A sad goodbye to a garden stalwart
I would like to thank Geoff for all the years of hard work he has put into the Parsonage garden - an all-round good egg with a special affinity for the lawns and their nurturing.
Geoff has retired as garden volunteer but with a big garden at home and a big family he won’t be sitting in his rocking chair any day soon.
Geoff had worked on perfecting the lawn for years when the set designers of the new “Railway Children” film 2021 decided that the lawn must become a 1940s kitchen garden. Nothing was impossible for these people who removed our beautiful lawn and, with the help of the parsonage gardeners, created a wonderful veg patch, complete with all manner of vegetables ready to pick. They did their filming and after a couple of weeks removed the contents of the plot and proceeded to replace our beautiful lawn with a new one. With the best will in the world they could not put things back to the way they had been. Theresa and I were dreading the moment when Geoff would walk into the garden to survey his lawn, we were ready to cry, but Geoff took it on the chin and began to care for this new ‘inferior’ lawn. We were having a heatwave at the time so hours and hours were spent watering the new grass, and thankfully, by the time the hosepipe ban came into force the lawn had perked up and was responding to all of Geoff’s TLC.
It has been a lovely 10 years plus working side by side with Geoff, and we made the perfect team, our strengths being in two different places, with me working on the beds and Geoff concentrating on the lawns and shrubs. Thanks to Geoff we have a lawn to be proud of and much more daylight in the garden. Geoff was always mindful of the need to remove the low- hanging branches, which opened up the garden and reclaimed the dark corners. Our snowdrop stocks have increased enormously and the roses are flourishing under his watch, we have a garden to be proud of. I could go on but will finish by saying a big thank you to Geoff, the perfect gentleman. From Jenny, Theresa, Christine, and Caroline.
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