Health and safety

Posted by Tiggy Salt on January 29th, 2007

The most important event for the garden this week was the Health and Safety conference held at the NEC in Birmingham. A day of sitting on trains and lectures on hard hats and high vis jackets did not really appeal, so it was with a heavy heart that I boarded the train at Euston at the crack of dawn on Thursday.

I thought this was going to be hell: the NEC is no ordinary conference centre, it is almost an enitre city of enormous aeroplane hangars connected by very confusing walkways, bus routes and car parks. Surprisingly, I got there in good time and found my way to the RHS Exhibitors Conference in suite 29. The room was filled with our, I hesitate to use the word ‘enemy’, perhaps ‘competitors’ would be better… A formidable army of horticultural prowess and steely ambition. I never thought I would say it, but the day was of vital importance to our garden and really good fun.

There were talks from RHS assessors who judge all the gardens at Chelsea, Hampton Court, Malvern, Tatton Park, Cardiff, and BBC Gardener’s World Live and who know everything there is to know about how to win a gold medal. Key information on how to make final touches to the garden to really impress the judges, how to draw up a workable timetable for the actual building of the garden, how to drum up media interest and get the name of one’s Sponsor really in the mind’s eye of the public amongst many other gems. We all ate lunch together, so it was great to be able to talk to other exhibitors from all the different categories, about our joint worries and expectations. There was a really nice feeling of cameraderie, as there always is amongst gardening people, everyone was exceptionally genereous with their contacts and suppliers and it was very nice to make a few friends who will be nice to have around during the show.

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