2005
Presentation of Awards
Sir
Peter
Hutchison Bt. CBE SHM –
Hon. President, presents a solid silver Dr Andrew Duncan
medal to the Caley.
The Queen
Elizabeth,
the Queen Mother Medal was inaugurated in 1990 to commemorate the
90th birthday of the Society’s late patron: it is an Annual
Award for outstanding services to Scottish Horticulture by
non-professionals.
The
2005 Queen Elizabeth, The Queen
Mother Medal in Horticulture is awarded to Jim Reilly, Secretary of
Haddington Garden Club
and the
citation reads:
A
“green
fingered” mother
sparked off Jim Reilly’s interest in horticulture: his
first involvement in Gardening Clubs was with the East of Scotland
Fuchsia Society, serving eventually as its President for two years.
For over
20 years, Jim has run the
Club's
Spring Show, which grows in size each year. He is innovative: he
instigated an experimental class for ‘one single spike of cut
flower’ and this is now a regular feature in Gardening Clubs
throughout the County. He successfully encourages the involvement of
local primary schools: the Club provides bulbs which the children
tend and then exhibit at the Club’s Spring Show.
A
former
member of the Royal
Caledonian
Horticultural Society, Jim assisted at the Caley’s Spring and
Autumn Shows and served on Council. He was a member of the Garvald
Onion and Leek Society and for a number of years, with fellow
Haddington members, assisted in running the East Lothian
Horticultural Society Show. He is also well-known to neighbouring
gardening clubs as a visitor, judge for Spring Flower Shows and an
able speaker.
Jim’s
knowledge, dedication and
community service well fulfil the requirements of the award. He is a
distinguished amateur horticulturist.
Sir Peter
also presented a bouquet to Nan Reilly to also acknowledge her
contribution.
The
Neill Prize was
established in 1851
by
Dr Patrick Neill, one of the Founders and the first Secretary of the
Society, who left £500 to furnish, every two or three years, a
medal or other reward to a distinguished Scottish botanist or
cultivator. Recently, Council topped-up the fund to allow ‘annual’
awards.
The 2005 Dr Patrick
Neill
Award goes to Dr. Jack Dunnett
and the citation
reads:
As
a
single-handed potato breeder
he
worked
on a small scale, raising five thousand seedlings per annum compared
with the million or more raised by the Dutch potato breeders who had
become the dominant force in potato breeding and associated seed
potato production
His
success as a breeder of new
potato
varieties has been remarkable: his trio of export varieties, Winston,
Argos, and Valor generates annually a demand for some five thousand
tonnes of Scotch seed potatoes, mostly for planting in Middle Eastern
countries where potato stocks deteriorate rapidly due to virus
infection. His variety Nadine, besides being one of the top
varieties in the British market, is the leading variety in New
Zealand and is increasingly grown in Australia, partly for export to
South East Asia. Varieties such as Osprey, Harmony and Kestrel also
appear regularly in British supermarkets, while Mimi, his latest
variety, won the RHS Award of Garden Merit, and is intended to appeal
to children - who might be persuaded to try small, ready-peeled fresh
potatoes as a change from ‘chips’. Kestrel is also well
liked by gardeners for its good resistance to eelworm and slugs,
superior cooking quality and eye appeal: the early salad variety
Swift, is ideal for forcing, and takes only eight weeks to reach
maturity. In addition to the nine already mentioned, another eleven
varieties are on the UK National List.
Jack’s
skill as an innovative
breeder
and cultivator will be long remembered in the annals of Scottish
potato breeding: there is no doubt that he is a very worthy recipient
of the Dr Patrick Neill Medal.
Professor Douglas MD DSc
FRCPE President,
Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh then presented: The Dr Andrew
Duncan Medal
Dr
Andrew Duncan was
a
‘Founding Father’ of the Caledonian Horticultural
Society. Established in 2003 through the benevolence of the Caley’s
Honorary President, Sir Peter Hutchison, and further supported by a
bequest, it complements the Dr Patrick Neill Medal, which is awarded
to botanists or cultivators. This medal honours distinguished
service by an educationist, adviser or administrator.
The
2005
Award goes to
Michael
Hitchon
and
the citation reads:
Michael
Hitchon retired from
full-time employment in November 2004 after more than 35 years with
the Scottish Agriculture College, Auchincruive. Educated at King
Edward’s Five ways School Birmingham and Newent School, he
graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1967, but continued
his studies to undertake an MSc.
First
appointed to the post of
Horticultural Experimental Officer at the Glasshouse Investigational
Unit for Scotland, then based at Auchincruive, he became involved in
teaching in the 1970’s, lecturing to students at the University
of Strathclyde and Auchincruive on a wide range of horticultural
topics in the commercial and amenity sectors.
Happy
to
share his wonderful store
of
horticultural knowledge with those who wished to learn, Michael
always had time for his students and would go out of his way to
encourage them. Enormously influential in shaping the careers of
countless students over the years, he is well known as the first
point of contact for those seeking a worthwhile post within
horticulture.
Since
experiencing the joys of
travel as
a
Churchill Scholar in 1973, he has encouraged students to travel and
learn, organising a series of Study Tours to Ireland, France, The
Netherlands and The Channel Islands: and, like all he has done, they
were beautifully organised and ran like clockwork.
Michael
has held office on the
Scottish
Branch Committees of both the Horticultural Education Association and
the Institute of Horticulture and is currently Branch Treasurer for
the Scottish Branch of that organisation. He is also heavily
involved in his local community as Treasurer of Ayr Arts Guild,
Treasurer to his local Community Council and President of Kyle and
Carrick Civic Society.
He
has served horticulture, his
students
and his local community well and thoroughly deserves the award of a
Dr. Andrew Duncan Medal.
Certificates
of Merit:
The
‘Certificate
of Merit’, introduced for the first time at the 2002 AGM, is
intended to acknowledge a wide range of services or contributions to
Scottish horticulture, primarily to individual societies, by an
individual, amateur or professional.
The first Certificate of
Merit goes
to
Ronald Lyne, who is a member of the Caley and has been nominated by the
Caley
A
chemical–mechanical engineer by
profession, Ronald Lyne’s escape from the complexities
of the oil industry was his hobby and passion - ‘gardening’. Sparked by
the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign, he started
off by helping on a friend’s allotment in 1952 and did not have
his own garden until 1959.
A long
connection with the Royal
Caledonian
Horticultural Society’s Spring Show began soon after he joined
the Caley in 1963: he exhibited for the first time at the Waverley
Market in 1965, has exhibited at every Spring Show since and has been
a stalwart over the years in their setting-up and dismantling.
Voluntary service has been a core feature in Ronald’s life:
apart from his willing service at many Caley events, including
Gardening Scotland, he provides plants for sales and has served on
Council.
In the wider
field of
community service, Ronald
has been
an active member of the St Andrews Ambulance Brigade since 1964,
attending many public events, including for example the Royal
Highland Show, as an official first-aider. At Caley outings, it is
always re-assuring to know that Ronald is there if required.
The second Certificate of
Merit is
awarded to Alexander Purdie, who is a member of the Caley and has been
nominated by the Caley
Sandy
is one
such member:
who
enjoys
‘just
helping’, especially in the setting-up and clearing away of The
Caley Spring Flower Show. The tasks may be mundane, but Sandy’s
attention to detail is there year after year to make sure that all
tasks are completed to his high standard, smoothly, and without fuss
– and he can be depended upon to remind the Show Organisers of
essentials which might well otherwise be overlooked!
He
has performed similar
tasks at
each
Gardening Scotland Show, since its inception in 2000, quietly and
inconspicuously putting out tables, screening off areas, sweeping up,
clearing away debris etc., so ensuring that Exhibitors can set up
their display areas without worry.
Such
efforts should not
go
unrecognised:
although Sandy would probably say ‘I only do it because I enjoy
it’, the Caley cannot ignore such commitment, and it is fitting
that he be awarded a Certificate of Merit.
The third
Certificate of Merit is
awarded to Alan Pendreigh, an ‘outside lecturer at Royal Botanic
Garden, Edinburgh who has been nominated by the Caley
He
designed the Main Glasshouse
range at
the RBGE, an Iconic Building. In 1967, he became involved with
teaching Architectural Draughtsmanship to the Diploma Horticulture
Edinburgh Course:
For
the
past quarter century, as a
lecturer
and teacher at the RBGE, Alan has been an inspiration to hundreds of
horticulture students. He continues to teach on the HND Course run
by the RBGE and, over the years, has encouraged many students to make
the connection between Horticulture, Art and Design. In that first
year alone (1967/8), three students chose to move on to careers in
landscape design.
His
architectural
talents have been
recognised elsewhere: here we recognise and applaud Alan’s
skill in inspiring horticulture students to cross the divide between
Horticulture and Design, to express themselves, to ‘free up’
and to enjoy themselves with pen, ink and crayon.
The
fourth Certificate of Merit goes to Margaret Wilson who has
been nominated by the Lanark
Garden Club:
Margaret
Wilson’s
distinguished career as a horticultural adviser, most notably her
major influence on the tomato growing industry of the Clyde Valley,
was acknowledged in 1985, three years after her retirement, by the
award of a Scottish Horticultural Medal.
Despite
a
busy professional life,
Margaret
gave of her time and experience to found the Lanark Garden Club in
1969 and served as its first President. Programme Convener from
1971, her standing in the horticultural community has ensured a
succession of excellent speakers and many privileged visits to
horticultural venues, so sustaining the interest and enthusiasm of
the members for over 30 years: a significant achievement.
Presentation
to Professor Fred Last from
Scottish Gardeners’ Forum
Alistair
Simpson,
Chairman, Scottish
Gardeners’ Forum presents a print of Meconopsis
betonicifolia
by a the Scottish artist Elizabeth Cameron to Professor Fred Last
as founding and retiring chairman of the SGF.
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