Garden club

Daffie Time: On Wordsworth’s Sister’s Frustration

Sent in by Annie Atwell, Midhurst Garden Club

The Midhurst Garden Club, unlike a lot of societies and clubs, is bucking the trend and its membership is increasing year by year. We had some enjoyable garden visits and listened to some very interesting speakers in 2019. We also had our first Garden Club Holiday to Suffolk and Essex with a highlight being a visit to the Beth Chatto Gardens. Another holiday is planned for 2021, this time to Staffordshire.

Our programme for 2020 includes a visit to Ramster Gardens in Surrey, the replanted and restored Leonardslee Gardens, Parham House and Wisley. We have an interesting number of speakers booked, covering a variety of horticultural themes such as Shakespeare’s Flowers and Plants; the hidden meanings of flowers depicted in art, etc.

At our meeting on 9 March Ray Broughton, who has spent a lifetime in horticulture, gave a well-received talk on Daffodils and Spring Flowering Plants. It is 250 years since the birth of William Wordsworth and this year of celebration brings to mind a poem by Lynn Peters that explains why Dorothy Wordsworth is not as famous as her brother. Dorothy Wordsworth was an accomplished poet but her duties as housekeeper and companion to William Wordsworth frustrated her artistic endeavours.

“I wandered lonely as a ... They’re in the top-drawer William, Under your socks – I wandered lonely as a – No not that drawer, the top one. I wandered lonely by myself – Well wear the ones you can find, No, don’t get overwrought my dear, I’m coming.

“I was out one day wandering Lonely as a cloud when - Soft boiled egg, yes my dear, As usual, three minutes – As a cloud when all of a sudden Look, I said I’ll cook it. Just hold on will you – All right, I’m coming.

“One day I was out for a walk When I saw this flock – It can’t be too hard, it had three minutes. Well put some butter on it. -This host of golden daffodils As I was out for a stroll one –

“Oh you fancy a stroll, do you, Yes, all right William. I’m coming It’s on the peg. Under your hat. I’ll bring my pad, shall I, in case You want to jot something down?”

Author: Lynn Peters

Why Dorothy Wordsworth is not as famous as her brother and other poems, November 2018. Available:

Amazon.co.uk: Lynn Peters: 9781726498234: Books

Super Medics: A child’s first aid book by Hannah Alsbury-Morris

My name is Hannah and I am the author of Super Medics, a first aid book, and training program (based in Petworth) for children. I am a first aid, mental health and safeguarding instructor for my training company Impulse First Aid.

In 2013 I became a Community First Responder (CFR) for our local ambulance service 'South East Coast Ambulance Service' (SECAmb) which involves attending certain 999 calls on behalf of SECAmb to provide emergency medical support where needed, while the ambulance in on its way.

I love working with and helping people, and this role has given me the ability to make a difference in my community. In 2018 I became a volunteer CFR tutor for SECAmb, providing training to those who wish to become CFR's.

However, soon after I started teaching for SECAmb I had a serious horse-riding accident and broke my back in multiple places. I was taken to St George's hospital in London (which was filmed and aired on Channel 4's program 24 hours in A & E), and spent several nights in their care. I was re-built with the help of titanium rods and screws.

I was somewhat limited as to what I could physically achieve at this time, and during my recovery period I set out to write a first aid book and first aid program for children. This was something that I had wanted to do before my accident to help support my teaching, so I took the opportunity to make it happen.

In October 2018 I set out to find a children's illustrator who would be able to represent my ideas while working with a local artist to create initial pen sketches of potential characters. Our first colour scene in the book came to life in the form of a watercolour painting (see below).

Book cover

My ultimate goal throughout the project was to create a bold, bright and inspiring first aid book for children that could be used as both a stand-alone book or as teaching material for first aid in schools. Our medical editor Paramedic Steve Topley, carefully adjusted both images and text to ensure that Super Medics was both factually correct and in line with best practice (at the time of printing). Super Medics was successfully published and made available to all leading book shops in November 2019.

Children are like sponges, and take in so much information. Teaching them is incredibly rewarding and can be a real pleasure. Providing the Super Medics book and grasping their attention through hands-on learning, practical work and scenarios help to make learning first aid, fun and memorable. I am a wife and mother of two young children. Both my husband and girls have given me great support and inspiration through my journey. I have always been passionate about helping and caring for those in need. I am pleased to say that further to my most recent surgery, I am fully recovered and have ridden since my fall.

I am very much looking forward to working with further schools and instructors nationally to make Super Medics training accessible to all children. To supplement this, I am hoping to start my life long wish to become a paramedic in September 2020. For more information see https://supermedics.com/

[Congratulations Ashley! What a heartwarming story. We recently saw the TV clip in Australia. Peter Sydenham]

‘24 Hours in A&E’

So! We have a hero in our midst. Albeit unexpectedly!

The 24 Hours in A&E award-winning documentary tv series comes from St George’s in south west London, one of Britain’s most advanced and busiest A&E departments. It focuses on the bonds between patients and their family, as well as those between the staff in the A&E department. Its several stories in each episode combine the clinical response aspect with the human experiences of staff and patients' families and friends. For example:

‘65-year-old retired builder Roger has fallen four metres from his daughter’s roof while doing some building work for her. The trauma team is concerned that he may have badly injured his head, back and neck in the accident.

Roger’s daughter Lisa heard him fall from her roof ‘like a sack of potatoes’. “The guilt kicks in, thinking he was on my roof,” she says. “You start asking yourself all those questions: ‘What if, what if?’.”

His wife Ellen waits as Roger is taken for a CT scan to find out how badly he’s been hurt. She talks about how Roger has always been a support for her, particularly recently when she lost four sisters.

“He has a sensitive side, very caring; he is always there for me. He used to be harder, a bit fiery. He used to lose his temper if things didn’t go right,” says Ellen. “I seem to hold my emotions in quite a bit, I suppose I have been through too many emotional things in life, I hold them back.’ [From https://www.lifestyle.com.au/tv/24-hours-in-emergency/]