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Celebrating over 100 years of service at Ashwood

Posted on Sunday 11th August 2019

The RHS Long Service Medal (50 years)

Husband and wife team Tony and Barbara Cartwright are celebrating over 100 years of combined service at Ashwood Nurseries. Both have been honoured with a Long Service Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for 50 years of service to horticulture.

Nursery owner John Massey VMH recently presented Barbara with her medal in front of staff and invited guests at a special evening event celebrating John’s 70th Birthday year. Her husband Tony was awarded his RHS Long Service medal in 2017.

Tony’s story:

Tony was already working part-time at Ashwood Nurseries in 1967. The nursery then was very small and undeveloped but with a new owner: 18 years old John Massey, who had ambitious plans to turn it into a productive nursery and garden centre, with his passion for plants at its heart.

Tony recalls:

Tony with customers in the aquatics 1970

“In 1967 there was a tumbledown wooden bungalow that had belonged to the previous owners Mr. and Mrs. Beach. Adjacent to this was a tiny shop with a small office attached and an open ‘packing shed’ on the front.

The packing shed was used to pack hardy plants such as trees, roses and shrubs and these were all sold ‘bare-root’ from October to March. A small range of containerised plants was also available grown in used tin cans supplied by the local butcher.”

Tony became a nursery manager and, together with owner John and fellow nursery manager Philip Baulk, was responsible for the day-to-day running of Ashwood Nurseries, developing the nursery into the success story that it is today. Tony is a familiar face to regular customers in The Garden Shop and, with his vast horticultural knowledge gleaned over the years, is always on hand to give advice or simply to have a friendly chat. He has had a long association with Howard Drury’s Ashwood Gardening Club.

Barbara’s story:

Barbara cleaning geraniums in the greenhouse pre-1970

Barbara started work in May 1969 straight from school.

She says:

We were a team of four and we worked very long days, an early finish was 6pm but it was often between 7pm and 8pm during busy periods.

We all did a wide variety of tasks in those early years, whether it was advising and serving customers, compiling catalogues and writing labels, plant propagation, planting bare root roses and trees, or (my least favourite job) catching fish in the aquatics section.

It was the best learning experience for anyone who loved plants because I was working with such a wide range and I was very soon able to specialise in alpines and heathers, our best sellers throughout the sixties and seventies. As the nursery expanded, I added herbaceous plants to my responsibilities.”

In 1971 she attended Pershore College of Horticulture for a year, working at Ashwood at weekends during this time. She and Tony were married in 1978.

Since then, Barbara has had a variety of roles on the nursery and has been Ashwood’s web editor since 2013.

A unique place to work

Barbara says:

Tony and I have now served an amazing 102 years between us at Ashwood and we can honestly say it’s been a privilege to work here. We would both like to thank John for giving us the opportunity to work in such a unique place and allowing us the freedom to develop our own particular skills and interests. There are several things that have made Ashwood special for us; it’s been the best learning experience for anyone who loves plants, we’ve worked with a great team… and we’ve been so fortunate to make some long-lasting friendships with our lovely customers.”

There can be no doubt that Ashwood Nurseries has an exceptional record of workforce loyalty: there is one other member of the team who has notched up 50 years while there are over twenty five members of staff who have worked here for more than 20 years, a testament surely to the special place that Ashwood holds in people’s hearts.

Read more of Barbara’s recollections of the early history of Ashwood Nurseries.