Our heritage 

GARDENING GREATS GIVE ADVICE

AND GET A PENNY FOR THEIR THOUGHTS

When young gardener Penny Moth was invited to meet a trio of famous experts, she did not expect to get another surprise invitation.

Eight-year-old Penny, who has her own 125 square metre allotment – it was a gift from Santa ─ has become something of a gardening star herself after winning the Best Junior Gardener award at Higham Ferrers Tourism’s horticultural show last September and then featuring in newspaper stories and on the BBC news channel.

Thus, when the trustees of The Friends of St Mary’s were organising the last of three events – Gardeners’ Question Time – to celebrate our recent Arts Weekend, we thought it was a good idea to invite Penny and her Mum, Keeley, along to hear what the experts had to say.

Special front row seats had been prepared for Penny and her Mum in the town’s Bede House, when the audience were introduced to the nationally renowned gardening guests: Bunny Guinness, a landscape architect, Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner and Radio 4 GQT panellist; Susie Pasley-Tyler of Coton Manor Garden and winner of the Nation’s Favourite Garden Award whose new book was on sale at the event; and Joe Whitehead, head gardener at Burghley House in Lincolnshire.

The audience’s questions came thick and fast, ranging from pruning and pollinators, to pests, pellets and potatoes … soil suitability … square holes or round holes … and black spot.

When Penny was introduced to the VIP gardeners, they told her it was very hard to get young people interested in gardening, but there were so many careers and opportunities available to them.

“Keep up your interest, you will find you can have the pick of jobs,” Joe Whitehead told her. He advised her to learn all about plants and flowers and learn what their names mean.

And he promised, he would give her a dierama gift to take home. Penny’s Mum said they would take up the offer.

Penny also got the job of presenting the three gardening greats with gifts on behalf of The Friends of St Mary’s hosts.

“HENRY VIII” VISITS HISTORIC HIGHAM FERRERS

ADDING A MEMORABLE TOUCH OF MAJESTY

A young Henry VIII has visited Higham Ferrers – and the imposing king dressed in his historically-accurate Tudor costume of fine clothes and jewels, received a right royal reception.

Although a hush fell over the packed audience when the handsome larger-than-life Henry VIII (aka David Smith) first entered the Hope Methodist Church, they were soon applauding him.

King Henry, a professional historical costumed re-enactor, was holding court where his young subjects – pupils from Higham Ferrers Junior School and Henry Chichele Primary School – entertained him with a range of typical Tudor dances.

Henry had been invited along by the Friends of St Mary’s group of volunteers who were celebrating the first of three events marking their annual Arts Weekend.

Earlier, Carol Fitzgerald, a Friends of St. Mary’s trustee, said that the children were studying the Tudor period at school and that Henry VIII always went down well with them because of his brutal beheading of two of his wives.

However, as the re-enactor explained later, the young Henry VIII who was visiting Higham Ferrers was aged about 30 and was still married to his first wife Catherine of Aragon, and there was hint of divorce.

Another VIP, Higham Ferrers deputy mayor, Gary Salmon, had also been invited to the event and after Carol and fellow Trustee, Brenda Lofthouse, recounted some of the historical facts about Tudor times to the audience, the children took to the floor.

They first danced Greensleeves, a medieval court dance, with the music said to have been composed by Henry V111 himself; then they showed off their Hornpip r at the end of the Tudor festivities, with parents being invited to join in.Henry did not stand on ceremony and surprised the audience by taking up the offer and showing off his own dance moves.

Then, addressing the court in his booming voice, he told pupils that he was a dancer himself and that “it was joyous to see you perform…keep you well and good health,” he said.

Henry, who is based in Essex, carries out some 12 similar costumed engagements a year and as well as running historical workshops for schools, two notable dates in his diary this year are the Hampton Court Palace Festival in June (Hampton Court was the home of Henry VIII) and the 500th anniversary celebrations of Christ Church College, Oxford, in July.

After the schools dance performance, the Friends of St Mary’s took Henry on a tour of the medieval town, which has connections with the famous Tudor king.

“The town lost a castle and most of Chichele College under Henry VIII's instruction. We had to show our Henry the college,” Carol Fitzgerald explained.