Floral tribute

A break from the usual office activities as I went this morning to Gifford for the funeral of a dear friend Sandy Boggon CBE. Sandy rose to be the Deputy Chief Agricultural Officer in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland - DAFS for short. I first met him in the early 80s when I worked in Private Office for the then Minister of State - Lord Mansfield - who had agriculture in his wide brief.

But in later years I got to know him and his wife Beth through the office gardening club of which I’ve been chair since 1988.

In many ways Sandy was a perfectionist when it came to gardens and lawns and had no truck with sloppy work. But he was a charming gentleman who sought to contribute to communities in a whole variety of ways. And in horticulture terms, anyone who can produce onions the size of small footballs and leeks nearly 2m long is an expert grower.

Sandy died the other week. The church at Gifford was packed to the brim. There was much laughter as stories and events were recounted affectionately by hs children and their children. And much love and affection for Beth, his wife of 67 years.

I also caught up with former DAFS colleagues with whom I worked who are still going strong after many years of retirement.

Apart from producing vegetables (which he avoided if at all possible when eating) he produced wonderful roses, sweet pea and dahlias. His name is engraved so many times on our trophies and it always gave us a sense of achievement when we managed to win one of these trophies ourselves. He certainly set the standard!

So someone deeply missed : but a great send off!