Making sure all is rosy in the garden

We have had the privilege of Mr Ronnie Rawlins and his wife Marlene spend a night with us recently. Mr Rawlins was the person who created the Ampleforth rose and as now we are the only people in the world to have a rose bed growing 25 of these beautiful primrose coloured roses. Here you see him taking a look at them. We were very impressed with how they had grown since we planted them in the depth of winter in January 2015. I think we must have better soil up here in North Yorkshire as even Mr R was delighted with how they had grown. Huddersfield I guess doesn't have such fertile soil as we have here. Our garden in south facing too. And not a bit of black spot in sight. My uncle was the rose grower in our family and now my Dad has followed on. My favourite has to be a beautiful old striped rose called Harry Wheatcroft. He has 2 Geoffrey Smiths which must be 10 foot high at least and were only planted a couple of years ago to celebrate his 90th birthday. Hidden away in his garden my Dad has the only Ryedale rose so far that I know has been released to the public kindly given by Ian Rogers ...to see how he came on with it. It came as a very tiny looking ball of roots and has had 3 flowers on this year. They were yellow too. Mr Rawlins kindly brought me, which I quickly handed over to my Dad, another rose .This remains a secret for the time being. All I can say it has been 5 years in the making. Never has one been seen like it before and may be announced at the 2 big Autumn flower shows. It was lovely to have the Rawlins stay with us and hope to see them again next year for their yearly inspection.

Lucky to be yet another finalist ...

By Laura Knowlson THE eagerly anticipated shortlist for the 2015 Press Business Awards is revealed . In the 25th anniversary year of the awards, more than 100 entries were received from businesses across North and East Yorkshire. After much deliberation following an overwhelmingly high calibre of entries, the judges have picked three finalists in each of the 14 categories. Entries have been praised for ingenuity in enterprise which will see this year’s awards recognise a variety of success stories from businesses of all sizes, across all sectors. Laura Knowlson, business editor of The Press, said: “The resilience of businesses across the region has really shone through in this year’s entries as companies and individuals prove they have gone beyond recovery and are now growing in a variety of ways. “The outstanding level of entries we have received made selecting a shortlist a very difficult task for the judges. "We had a number of very tough categories in which it was hard to pick just three finalists, especially the Large Business of the Year award, where every entry was worthy of a place on the shortlist." The shortlist Large Business of the Year: Green-tech, Portakabin, Simpson (York) Small Business of the Year: DSL Global Freight, Home Instead Senior Care, Yorvale New Business of the Year: The Yorkshire Meatball Co., Podfit, The Yorkshire Wagyu Company Best People Development Award: D E Ford Insurance Brokers, Young Discoverers, Garbutt+Elliott Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Ashley Hyde (Baba Ganoush Private Dining), Bethan Vincent (Bright Ethics), Alexandra Atkinson (Britain Does Vintage / Made Locally With Love) Retailer of the Year: Nought E Foods, PlasticBoxShop, Hunters of Helmsley Dare to Export Award: MooD International Software, Damson, London Deli Company Business Personality of the Year: Johnny Hayes (Bishopthorpe Road Traders Association), Rachel Goddard (York Professionals), Andrea Ubhi (Andrea Ubhi Cosmetic Dentistry) Tourism and Hospitality Business of the Year: National Railway Museum, Carr House Farm Bed and Breakfast, Best Western Monkbar Hotel Best Business and Higher Education Link Award: 5th Wall, Apatmer Group, The New School House Gallery Famiy Business of the Year: Ged Bell Family Butchers and Pie Makers, Elcocks, Yorkshire Heart Vineyard & Brewery Corporate Investment Award: One Stop Business Finance, Finance Yorkshire, Business Enterprise Fund Best Sustainable Travel Initiative Award: Portakabin Group, TSYS International, University of York Technology Business of the Year: Damson, Bytemark Hosting, PureNet

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