Page 4 - Front cover sm school.pub

The School Garden We debated long on the question of a suitable hedge to flank the main entrance drive; eventually, with some financial The school garden consisted of assistance from the County, we planted our approximately four acres of ground. Three- yew hedge at a cost of £90 - planted, quarters of an acre surrounding the school incidentally, in a blinding blizzard. itself is made up of lawns, borders and From time to time, ornamental shrubs were shrubberies. added to the garden; rockeries were In 1944 the garden was used for the war- constructed, even the ‘stones’ were made time production of food, chiefly potatoes from concrete. and cabbage. Two small dilapidated frames were found to Apart from the paths, a few apple stocks be totally inadequate for our needs, and a and some blackcurrant bushes, the ground greenhouse became an essential. was just as the builders left it. After long argument, discussions and Sixty tons of coke were stacked between the delays, we finally received a grant from the main entrance and the girls’ entrance tot he County towards the cost of a 50ft. school. greenhouse which was erected by staff and While the emergency was still with us, boys at a total cost of just over £200. thoughts and plans began to take shape for The glazing kept the headmaster occupied its future development. throughout a Whit-week holiday. It was felt that the school should be Though timber rationing was still wioth us, surrounded by lawns, boarders, shrubberies, we obtained a permit for timber to build specimen trees etc., as were the old country frame lights, and from concrete we mansions and that school gardening should constructed frames totalling 118ft by 5 ft. be developed into a science and an art When Mr Webster (an L.C.C. evacuated where intelligent hands, eyes and brains teacher) resigned, the garden was taken could be stimulated by the finer skills of over by Miss P. Fletcher. horticultural practice. On her resignation to become headmistress In 1942, Mr Gower was of Spellbrook School, Bishops Stortford, a p p o i n t e d S c h o o l Mr H. G. Paul and Mr D. K. Adams shared Groundsman and his first responsibility for school gardening. task was to dig, level and In 1948 Mr J. Mitchell took over control of grass the three quadrangles. the garden that was at last beginning to be There was a time when it recognised as a feature of the school. seemed he would resign as From the time of his appointment, all the digging seemed to be developments in the garden have been without end, but he marked by that degree of skill and Mr Gower remained, and the attractive craftsmanship which are an essential surrounding of the school will always stand characteristic of sound horticultural as testimonial to his craftsmanship and practice. labour. With the easing of the war-time pressure on food production, we set about reducing the area of ground that needed digging, by planting an extensive orchard of apple and pear trees, to which plums were added at a later date. Five poles were put down to rhubarb, five poles to raspberries and about fifteen poles to blackcurrants, and we were soon growing and propagating nine different types of fruit. Mr Mitchell 74