It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Brian Knight last weekend. I had not seen him for many years but I have very fond memories of him.
I am sure this will be shared by an enormous number of people who knew him through his many activities outside his life at Nags Hall, such as the Scouts. I was always in awe at all his involvement with other organisations and he seemed to know everyone.
At work, though he was always in demand, he always had time for everyone though I always felt his great love was growing things and, at home was a keen veg grower. It was possibly because of this that he was an early proponent of selling veg plants, something we take for granted now but he was an early pioneer.
He liked to grow things properly too and some of my most vivid memories are of planting and then growing and cutting ‘bloom’ chrysanthemums in the greenhouses, now gone, at Nags Hall. He must had trusted me because one of my first jobs was ‘rotavating’ the soil in the greenhouse – I was terrified I would lose control and run through the glass. The blooms we produced for Christmas were superb and you just can’t buy anything like them today. He also liked to grow his own cyclamen for sale at Christmas, because they were so superior to any he could buy in and I remember him showing me how to judge how good they were buy placing them upside down, proving they were sturdy and strong. He insisted on growing bedding plants for spring too because the quality was superior to any that he could buy in. He instilled in me a love for growing things properly.
At one point I was in charge of the houseplants and he was very tolerant of me stocking large and unusual plants that took ages to sell. My efforts to turn the houseplant display into a mini-Kew was almost vindicated when we were asked to make a huge display in a Bingo hall in Croydon.
He always had time to encourage me and I remember him spending the day with me at Kew before I left Knights to study there. I may be wrong but I think his car then was a Wolseley which, to me, seemed like a Rolls Royce and I was very chuffed when we parked on Kew Green before entering the main gates, in those days it only cost a penny to get in.
It was impossible to work at Nag’s Hall without feeling like part of something special and Brian and Pam and the whole family made me feel special. There will be many people who will miss Brian so much. I have nothing but fond and special memories of a true gentleman and a good man who touched so many lives and enhanced every one.