Lynne and I were once again saddened to hear the news of the death of another long standing member of the Society. David Carvey, was one of a number of enthusiasts who were members of a ‘local’ horticultural Society, the Red Bear Gardening Club in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. As its name suggests, the Club’s headquarters was a public house in the centre of town and where the members held regular monthly produce shows throughout the year. Guest speakers were often invited to give talks on their specialist subjects and to judge the small shows held in the Club’s meeting room. We first met David at one of their Spring produce shows where I gave a talk on Exhibition Daffodil Growing in the late 1970’s.
David, a young, keen grower of all horticultural subjects became hugely interested in Daffodils and joined the Daffodil Society to further his knowledge and be able to grow better daffodils. This he did with great aplomb over several years of exhibiting at his local shows and later, at the Daffodil Show within Harrogate Spring Flower Show. The pinnacle of his successes being to produce the overall Grand Champion Bloom in Show, at the 1997 Harrogate Spring Flower Show, with a bloom of ‘Altun Ha’ 2Y-W, that was selected from his 12 vase exhibit in the North of England Championship, the Premier Class in the Open Section of the show. It was unfortunate that David was unable to return to the show due to work and family commitments so he never really bathed in the accolades of his achievement. However, without any name dropping, one famous gardening personality, Alan Titchmarsh, did call at the Society’s information table to enquire about the winning bloom and have his picture taken with it in front of David’s exhibit! We supplied David with a copy of that picture as a memento of his win!
David also became an accredited Daffodil Society Judge having passed the necessary written and practical elements of the Exam at one of the Society’s shows and he continued to exhibit at Harrogate until he moved from the North of England to Llandudno, Wales several years ago, after which we lost touch with him.
We will always remember him as a quiet, unassuming and polite person, who was dedicated to his family and who enjoyed the ‘taking part’ in competition, win or lose.
We send ours and the Society’s deepest condolences to his family and friends and will always remember him as a ‘Society’ man! and lover of all things horticultural.
Jan & Lynne Dalton