Apprentice Gardener

A Memory of Eccles.

I was an Apprentice Gardener at Eccles Borough Council and started 22nd August 1966 at Library Gardens with the Gardener there Tommy Cambell. I was only 16 years old and I loved working there. Tommy was a great character and taught me the basics of gardening that I still remember today. Nowdays I help teach Apprentice Gardeners and am grateful for my Apprenticeship at Eccles with John Connell as the Parks Superintendent. Our mess room was an old air raid shelter at the back of the gardens where we had a coke burning stove. Tommy used to send me into the market hall in the mornings to get some toast and fill his billy can with tea. He said don't let them put marj on my toast - only butter.