War of the Roses - Part 4

Well I did warn you that the War of the Roses was going to get ugly and if you read on you will see exactly what I mean.  I'm duty bound to warn you that the following article from the Daily News in Perth in the early 1960's contains graphic detail of mass destruction.

NOW YOU SEE WHY ROSES HAD TO GO
BY Syd Donovan

An era of riotous colour and splendid elegance ended like a nightmare in the backyard of a Wembley home.



For a decade, 111 Essex st. had been something of a mecca for rose-growers from far and wide.

Suddenly, like the work of a vandal, this showplace had nothing to show but remnants of former glories - here and there a fallen bush, a crushed bloom, just a bitter memory of a haven of beauty.



“How…..why?” wailed an anguished army of rose-lovers.  And the answer they got sounded like sheer heresy.


“To make way for a bumper board so that my son and daughter can practise tennis,” said the rose-growing maestro who had had the awful choice of raising champion blooms or champion tennis players.


That was nearly two years ago.  And even today George Wall is tormented by the horror of having personally ripped out 60 beautiful rose bushes.  Regrets?  Non.  Because son Allan (16) and daughter Barbara (14) have developed into two of WA’s best young prospects.


And the man who won the State rose-growing championship for three years and dominated numerous other shows in the mid 1950’s says:  “The wall and surroundings cost me 200 pounds, but it’s worth it when I see the pair of them now playing every shot in the book, and playing them well.”  



VILLAIN OF THE PIECE

From the rose-lovers’ viewpoint the real villain of the piece is not George Wall but visiting 1961 player Ingo Buding.  The son of a leading German tennis coach, he advised Wall to build a bumper board…..even if it did start a modern “War of the Roses.”  No doubt Wall had challengers for the title of WA’s best rose garden, but who could challenge him for the title of WA’s best bumper board?


A concrete wall stretches 24 feet, stands 8 feet, is topped by a 6 feet high link mesh and flanked by a 42 feet by 24 feet area of green cement, measuring almost half the area of a tennis court.


The 6ft. 11/2 in., 131/2st. Allan, (blipper Allan46) vice-captain of Hale School, is No.2 in the Linton Cup team, recently won the boys’ singles at Geraldton and captured a set from Clive Wilderspin in a quarter-final of the spring tournament.  Every morning he runs two miles around Lake Monger before a 20min. workout at the bumper board.


No.1 player at MLC, Barbara won three titles (two of them senior) in the Geraldton hardcourt championships.

After his Leaving examination this year, Allan will do a private tour of the Australian circuit, playing in all major tournaments.  Barbara will have to keep pounding that “board” for a few more years, but she’s just as determined.  (see original cutting in extras)
War of the Roses Part 1
War of the Roses Part 2
War of the Roses Part 3


Postscript
I need to assure my blip buddies that not all of the roses were massacred in the War of the Roses.  Dad still had over 150 wonderful specimens and I was still able to take amazing bunches of roses to my school teachers for my entire school life.  Dad was a passionate man and he never did things by halves.  I would ignore Dad's coaching advice at my peril and I know in my heart he was still the best coach I ever had both in my tennis and squash careers.  We miss Mum and Dad every day.  They were the most wonderful parents you could ever ask for.  

One day I'm going to work out how I can plant a rose bush at Wombat Hollow and have it survive the perils of the wild life!!