RHS Spring show

RHS Spring Garden Show

After Annette won complementary tickets from Worcester Bosch, who were sponsors, we went to this show at the Three Counties Showground near Malvern.

As might have been expected there were a vast number of displays. Many were effectively sales outlets for plants, garden tools, greenhouses and sheds. There were some show gardens. These were very crowded so we just viewed from outside rather than going round. Mainly they were not large so this was quite adequate. The most ambitious had Alan Titchmarsh being interviewed presumably for TV. I couldn’t help feeling that although the equipment was fairly compact it was still large enough that cameramen must need a lot of strength and stamina.

The oddest show garden by far featured brightly coloured large shapes. From a distance the objects looked like children’s play objects but close up they were simply totally abstract and meaningless. To make matters more confusing most were set in a pool of water. However the really bizarre feature was that the only plants were a few tubs which looked very much like an afterthought

There is a clear trend to grow complimentary plants adjacent to one another in clusters. I find this quite attractive, certainly interesting. I was reminded of flower tubs in Liverpool centre which on closer inspection turned to be filled with various coloured cabbages. One such stand proudly proclaimed on a notice by the plants “ us Devon grown”. Quite why Devon is considered special I don’t know.

Another clear trend is to sculpt animals from scrap metal. These are very ingenious and wouldn’t be out of place in an art gallery. I guess one could spend hours identifying the various sources of scrap metal. Rather than sheet metal some were built from items like bearing races, chains, valves and the like. Mostly this was from automotive sources. The most ingenious used spark plugs for horns; I wasn’t sure if the animal was mythical, I couldn’t identify it.

There was a section devoted to gardens created by schools. Clearly there was a space travel component to the theme but equally eco consciousness was much in evidence. Several featured abstract objects from used plastic bottles.

There were a lot of craft stalls although it was noticeable they were much more quiet than the rest of the show. Some good work but mostly rather expensive.

Strangely for a garden show there was even a rank of older motorcars. It was slightly alarming to see models I remember well from my youth now being showpieces. Rather older there was a Morris Cowley “Bullnose”- interesting because I lived near the Cowley works in Oxford. Cowley is a suburb of Oxford with a large covered shopping centre. Herbert Morris was an important figure.in Oxford history, although the Morris brandname disappeared at least 20 years ago.

Buddy Holly

I suppose not a name much remembered now, Buddy Holly was an American musician credited with innovating pop music of the rock’n’roll genre. He became well known through his initial hit “That’ll be the day” in 1957. He had a series of hits before he was killed in a plane crash in 1959.

I was a mid teenager then and although my major affection was for Lonnie Donegan I was something of a fan of Buddy Holly. At that time Elvis Presley was popularising the rock’n’roll style which very quickly became widespread. In fact Presley didn’t initiate the style although he made it wildly popular.

I was taken by the recent TV documentary “Rave On” which points out just how Buddy Holly influenced many later artists including the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, the Who and many, many others. Although Presley was extremely popular there were other contenders among whom Cliff Richard was certainly comparable in the UK. The common demand at school was “Cliff or Elvis, which do you prefer?” I wasn’t keen on either.

As a singer Holly was rather strange having an impediment which sounded a like a quick hiccup as he sang. The song I liked most was “Peggy Sue” ( Oh how my heart yearns for you) After his sudden death Don McLean wrote a  heartrending song about “The day the music died”