Busy times for the team
Saturday turned out better than predicted - I even got a little sunburnt and was worried that I'd pack the wrong clothes entirely. Fear not though, today it rained...and it rained...and it rained.
We borrow one of the OB vans from 91Èȱ¬ Radio Northampton and their Engineer, Richard Hunt, very kindly delivers it, helps rig it and then does the same in reverse at the end of our stay. John Reynolds, a freelance engineer, is here for the duration and gets 91Èȱ¬ local radio stations on air - and keeps them there as long as they need to be. Once he's ensconced in the van, he generally stays there for the rest of the day and one of my jobs is to keep him fed and watered. He is often monitoring several outside broadcasts at once and makes it look easier than it actually is - that's because he's been an engineer for over 30 years and has been engineering the RHS flower shows for 8 years. We're using the second OB van as a studio but it's also my office and very cosy it is indeed.
Despite Saturday being a rig day, we still managed to get Bob Sweet, RHS Shows Director on air, talking to 91Èȱ¬ Three Counties Radio's, Gill Gauntlett. However, our 'studio' wasn't quite ready so Bob had to stand at the back of the OB van instead - nowhere near glamorous enough for a man of his stature. It's a good job that Bob is happy to 'muck in'.
Sunday was much busier. We arrived on site at 6.30am in time for John Marshall, Designer of the Back to the Future - Lessons from Africa for the survival of the British Garden and Helen Kongai, an organic farmer from Africa, to talk to 12 different stations, one after the other, about their garden.
At the same time Trevor Tooth, award-winning Chelsea garden designer and one of 91Èȱ¬ Radio Kent's gardening experts was co-hosting their Sunday morning gardening show with Martin Buchanan, who was in the Kent studio. Then, just before 9am, Joe Talbot arrived in time for 91Èȱ¬ Southern Counties Radio's Dig It gardening show. Joe was helped by experts Jean Griffin and Nigel Boardman. Nigel is one of the designers of Hope - The Way Forward, one of the show garden's.
Whilst Joe was out and about around the showground, Jim Wheble from 91Èȱ¬ London arrived to do a report for Christopher Biggins and Lesley Joseph. Jim had had a puncture on his push bike so he'd only just made it. I met him, close to the Thai Floating Market, and being the professional he is, he was on air within seconds of arriving.
Tim Hubbard of 91Èȱ¬ Radio Cornwall got in on the act just before 10 to talk to James Stewart about this years show. James is Editor of the 91Èȱ¬'s Special Features Unit, which is responsible for the RHS project. He's also my boss, however the tables are turned during the show when he becomes my reporter and I get to tell him what to do...
The sun actually came out for a while on Sunday morning, in between the downpours, and Jekka McVicar of Jekka's Herb Farm and Mary Payne, one of the designers of the Winchester Growers Garden in the Daily Mail Pavilion, sat outside talking to 91Èȱ¬ Radio Bristol's Trevor Fry. Their timing couldn't have been better, it started to rain again just as they said goodbye to Trevor.
Soon after, Geoff Hodge, gardening expert for 91Èȱ¬ Radio Cambridgeshire turned up to talk to Sue Dougan for Dougan Does Gardening. Geoff spent the first hour in our 'studio' but between 11am and 12pm we gave him a backpack which allowed him to talk to Sue whilst roaming around the showground.
Our final broadcasting for the day was with 91Èȱ¬ Radio Solent's Georgina Windsor and her producer, Garry Green. Georgina presents The Good Life, an interesting mix of gardening and green issues - both subjects adequately covered at show. Georgina is a keen gardener herself and was like a kid in a sweetshop - she didn't seem to notice the rain at all in her excitement.
It may still be 'build up' at the flower show but there's a great atmosphere here and everyone you meet is friendly and always willing to chat, in spite of any last minute pressures to finish show gardens and exhibits.
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