Our November meeting was something completely different, it was titled “ The Perennial Mr Potter”
Our guest, Bryan Thurlow, was a professional actor, and he retold the story of a man called Horace Potter. Potter’s dream was to restore a knot garden.
Mr Potter was born in 1900 and lived with his family in a Suffolk village. As a young boy Horace was captivated by a tapestry pattern on a fire screen at his home. That pattern was of a knot garden. Quite early on he showed an interest in plants and was encouraged to enter a competition in a garden show, the 1st organised in the area. He made a miniature knot garden on a plate, and got 1st prize of a silver 3d piece, which he spent on ice cream.
During his early years, he showed his passion and enthusiasm for gardening by growing plants from seeds and taking cuttings, using any patch of bare soil he could find. This didn’t go unnoticed. When he was 13 and had to leave school, the owner of a local large garden, Glebe Hall, offered him a job helping out on the estate.
After a few years’ experience, and the end of WW1, he accepted the challenge of restoring the Hall’s knot garden. This part of the estate had been left untouched for a long time and was in a very sorry state. Well, Mr Potter was in his element. It was his dream after all.
He met and married a local girl, Rose, and they set up their home in a restored shed in the grounds of the knot garden. They spent many happy years there.
Thurlow captivated the audience with his storytelling of Potter’s life. We were transported back in time to that village and garden. His dialogue was so vivid that we could imagine ourselves being there.
A very entertaining evening, and very different to our normal presentations.
I hear you ask, “what is a knot garden?”
Box shrubs planted in designs that resemble a rope tied in a knot.
Hanna Roberts
