Life time career in horticulture, Steve Dowbiggin, March's meeting

 

What a fabulous start we had to our first meeting in the hall with Steve Dowbiggin’s fascinating talk on his life time career in horticulture. Steve’s talk  was appropriately titled; Started at 13 and Still Going Strong. Steve’s family were self sufficient Essex Crofters and all the family had to do their bit, so from an early age Steve was learning how to farm and grow vegetables. At 13 his mates all had paper rounds but Steve could drive a tractor and grow potatoes!

One of Steve’s amazing stories was about him having to drive a nine ton lorry from the farm in Essex to Covent Garden market when he was only 16! Steve had no trouble with this task and his reward was an extra £10, which  was a real bonus in the 1960s. Steve’s early experience in horticultural and farming soon landed him the role as a Farm Manager before going on to work at Capel Manor where he remained for 35 years and became the CEO.

It was wonderful to hear Steve’s experiences and stores of working on fund raising with the Duchess Devonshire. Steve is a natural speaker and makes a great connection with his audience, he certainly kept us entertained throughout the evening and I was most grateful for Steve being able to present his talk at such short notice as our original speaker cancelled a few days before. Thank you Steve for great evening.