Gardening stars plan village visit (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Gardening stars plan village visit

Mary Jones and David Herbert prepare for Gardeners' Question Time in Purton Picture Ref: 99848-38THE world of gardening is set to tune in to a North Wiltshire village.

The BBC's longest running radio programme, Gardeners' Question Time, will be recorded at Bradon Forest School in Purton next month, and two shows will be broadcast, probably in December and January.

The Purton and District Gardeners' Guild has been trying for years to bring the programme to the village and their efforts have finally paid off.

Guild secretary Mary Jones is delighted.

She said: "I wrote to them four years ago asking them to come to Purton and they put us on the list.

"Then, right out of the blue, about six weeks ago, they rang me up and said that if we could get a hall for 200 people, with good acoustics, they would come."

So Mrs Jones has now set herself the task of ensuring that 200 people will be there on the night.

To this end she has come up with a cunning scheme whereby tickets cost £5 but the money will be refunded at the door.

She hopes this will persuade people to actually turn up.

"We have to get bums on seats," she said.

"It should be a very good evening. We've already got some good raffle prizes donated from local garden centres and businesses and we've got to make this work.

"We want lots of people and lots of questions. The BBC wants 80 or 90 questions so that they can record two programmes on the night."

Mrs Jones is a long-term fan of the programme.

She said: "I've been listening to it for more years than I'd like to remember.

"This is a real scoop for Purton. It's my baby and it's got to work."

Mrs Jones and her husband Barry currently have a large garden and ten acres of land, but their large-scale gardening days are nearing an end.

She said: "We've just sold it because we're getting too old for it now. We want to go travelling."

David Herbert, of Braydon, chairman of the guild, said: "This is an exciting time for us. Everybody is very keen on this, including people at the school."

Gardeners Question Time has been running for 54 years, during which time panellists have been asked well over 300,00 questions.

For the first 47 years the team were shown the questions in advance, but that tradition was dropped in 1994.

The chairman is currently Eric Robson, who has been presenting gardening programmes for 20 years. His voice is known to millions as one of the regular commentators on state occasions, including royal weddings.

The panellists at Bradon Forest School will be Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank.

The BBC will be announcing exact dates for the broadcast during the recording.

The programme is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sundays at 2pm and repeated on Wednesdays at 3pm.

The doors open for the Purton show on Tuesday, November 8 pen at 6pm and the recording begins at 6.45.

For tickets and information telephone 01666 860379.

Dave Andrew