Ro's Family
Dedicated to Ken
The CD has been produced in memory of my father, Ken Evans, for several reasons. From quite a young age he enjoyed walking in the hills above the mining valleys of South Wales and later, on the moors of Yorkshire. He and my mother, Betty, travelled to many parts of the British Isles on holiday and to visit friends and family. They always enjoyed going out for a walk.
Ken, like a lot of ex-servicemen, did not talk much about his experience of the Second World War. My brother and I did not really understand what he had been through until recent years. He was a navigator in the RAF and during a sortie, the plane was hit by shrapnel which injured several of the crew. They managed to land the plane at a wartime airfield in the Borders, after missing their base in East Anglia. My father spent several weeks in hospital in Galashiels. During this time of convalescence he and my mother started writing to each other (they knew one another during their schooldays) and married a few years later.
Later life
In the early 1990s my father suffered a serious stroke during surgery. He spent months in several hospitals and after intensive physiotherapy was well enough to go home. My mother looked after him devotedly but they were not able to go out for their walks again in the countryside. We did manage some family outings and soon learned that it was difficult to take a wheelchair along many paths during our walks.
As well as looking after Ken, my mother managed to keep their garden looking beautiful and immaculate, with help from my brother, Paul. On one occasion it was opened to the village in aid of funds for the Church.
For those carers without a garden or countryside nearby but who are now working as hard as Betty did for Ken, then this CD is for them to be able to take time to relax.
Gardening for my mother
In 1999 I started visiting my mother more frequently when she was living alone. There was not much time during each visit to help her keep the large garden tidy. My parents had created the garden from meadowland during the 1980s. It had been beautifully designed by Betty and Ken around 3 large lawns and was very productive in fruit, vegetables and flowers.
Over the years I found I was spending more time in the garden in Wiltshire, which I loved, instead of using the time to have days out with my mother: to the coast at Weymouth or to visit the nearby city of Bath.
The garden would very quickly have reverted to meadowland if the weeds had been allowed to take over. My mother had a local firm to deal with pruning trees and shrubs and she agreed eventually for a gardener to mow the grass and trim hedges. The weeds (mostly goose grass, dandelions and thistles) were always there in great numbers whenever I arrived and eventually they were winning the battle to dominate the flowerbeds.
It was this experience that generated the idea of creating “Ro's Garden” for those who love their gardens but can no longer manage all the work to keep the weeds under control.
Origins of the name
“Rose Garden” seems to be a popular name for websites and businesses.
I originally decided to use this name when I was considering the possibility of setting up as a self-employed gardener. This was to have been a service using my day-to-day gardening skills to help those in Morpeth who may have needed help to keep their gardens tidy. My own experience of looking after a garden from a distance made me wonder if other people who could no longer manage the upkeep of their gardens would like help to keep them under control, instead of relying on relatives to do so when they visited.
Taking it further
As a gardener there is the perennial problem of sitting out with a cup of coffee, spotting a couple of weeds then spending the next 3 hours working from one gardening job to the next. If you are not able to do this due to the constraints of time or wellness, it would be very frustrating trying to keep the garden manageably tidy. Often I think that working in a garden that does not belong to me is rather like preparing a meal in someone else's kitchen but a lot more precious! It takes time to follow the layout and get to know where utensils are kept but the goal is the production of a fine meal. In the case of a garden, a relationship has to be built up with the feel of the garden space and with the plants growing in it.
“Ro's Garden” as a business was a good idea but in reality the practicalities could have been rather overwhelming! Also, my own small garden has been enough to look after sometimes. Maybe someone in Morpeth with lots of stamina (and a car to transport the lawn-mower) would be willing to take on my idea.
Above and right: Elements of Ro's small town garden, including a bunch of roses which were grown in her parents' garden. The bouquet was picked just before the sale of their house and garden in Wiltshire.