Propagation is Chris Bowman’s abiding interest and he has been fortunate to have been in a position to develop that into a long-term career. Unusually in this day and age, he has even been able to stay with virtually the same company, albeit at different locations.
He began working at Waterers Nursery in Surrey in 1974 and remained with it until Notcutts acquired the firm in 1982. Since then he has been working at various Notcutts/Waterers sites.
Bowman’s links with horticulture go back a long way, so it was perhaps inevitable that he would find his way into the industry. “My father and grandfather both worked for Waterers. Even my mother worked there,” he recounts. “It played a big part in my life - I was often on the site at the end of the school day. My father did a lot of shows in his career and I used to see plants being loaded to go to Chelsea etc. In 1974, when I got to 14, I used to do 20 hours a week working in the nursery.”
Leaving school in 1976, it was a difficult time for young people to find work, so Bowman took the obvious route. “I went to my father and asked if Waterers could offer me an apprenticeship so that I could see if I wanted to continue in the industry.”
Bowman started as a trainee, and then went on to be an apprentice doing a three-year City & Guilds course at Merrist Wood College. “The year I had spent as a trainee gave me a great advantage since I had gained a lot of practical knowledge through involvement in the Waterers training scheme,” he recalls.
The result was a steady stream of high marks - and ultimately a determination to build a career in horticulture. He won the Merrist Wood Day Release Student of the Year award, the south east Horticultural Apprentice of the Year award and made the final six of the Apprentice of the Year award. And when his apprenticeship was over, Bowman joined Waterers’ propagation department, citing this as one of his ‘great loves and interests’. Working in the department enabled him to develop that interest into a full time career.
Just as he had got married to Lois in 1992 - who also worked for Waterers - the company was taken over by Notcutts. Initial worries about what this meant to his future were quickly dispelled. “I saw that Notcutts was very progressive and decided to stay with them,” he enthuses. “I progressed steadily. In 1983 I moved to the leading charge hand position; in 1985 I was made charge hand in the Propagation Unit, and in 1990 propagation manager.”
After this his career began to diversify slightly. In 1996, he was made production manager for the Waterers site. Two yeas later, he was given the additional responsibility for an extra site that Notcutts had acquired. In 2002 the company acquired Richalps, which was integrated into the two Surrey sites, thus further expanding his production role.
In 2006, he became commercial manager for Notcutts - a move that required him to work in East Anglia. This caused some problems with his home life as his youngest son was still at school and coming up to his exam years. Not wanting to disrupt his schooling, Bowman began a lengthy commute, which required him to spend Monday to Friday in East Anglia, then travelling back to Surrey for the weekends.
Bowman is now responsible for assessing the commercial aspects of plant raising and propagation within the company, thus being in the fortunate position of continuing with his main interest. “I am a member of the International Propagation Society and this interest will remain,” he points out. “My career will continue to develop and moving on with Notcutts to look at all aspects of production within the company. I like the variety, the challenge of working in horticulture. There is never the same thing happening each day. I am lucky to be able to travel and meet other nursery people, learning different ways of working which we can improve upon.”
Although he is confident about his own future, Bowman is worried about the future of the industry as a whole. “A lot of colleges are closing or dropping horticultural courses. The whole infrastructure is slipping away. The fewer people entering the industry means fewer people going to college, numbers fall and courses stop.
“We need to bring in more young people and create an apprenticeship system. We took on three last year and are looking for more this year. You need to keep bringing new blood into the industry. I see so many people leaving horticulture and it is essential to encourage people to stay. I am not sure why they are leaving - perhaps because they want a kinder environment with less outside work. Horticulture is not glamorous and there is a perception that it is an area where people who are not academic go to work.”
He believes that the government should provide more help with employers’ subsidies in order to provide more apprenticeships. Schools, too, need to be encouraged to focus on provision of vocational skills and give longer periods of work experience. Young people need to experience different jobs in order to know where their future lies.
Bowman points out that when it comes to work experience, students have just one week before they leave school. “Some students are more practically orientated than academically and they should be given more opportunities to spend time in the industry. There has been a lot of talk about the development of vocational skills but I don’t see much happening.”
When students come on a work experience programme, they do enjoy it and find it interesting, Bowman stresses. He has found that many of his apprentices have come into the sector through that route. Horticulture had not been an automatic choice for them, but once introduced to the sector they were hooked on a career in it.
Another trend that concerns him is the way in which nurseries have had to reduce the number of varieties being grown in order to stay viable. “It is not commercially viable to grow small numbers of lots of varieties. We aim to be a one-stop shop for customers where people can buy everything from trees to perennials but even within those boundaries we have had to come out of the tree market for open ground grown trees. It was not possible to make it pay.”
As with all gardeners and nursery staff, water shortages are a constant source of worry. East Anglia and the south east are the driest areas of the UK, and Bowman says he is always looking at sourcing and recycling water. The firm has also cut down on waste and reduced peat usage, though he admits this is as much a reflection of the way society has moved as actual commercial concerns. “The government has pushed us that way and costs have had to be increased in order to get the quality,” he adds.
Once the working day is over, Bowman often turns to his hobbies of angling or golf. Whenever possible, he enjoys a visit to see Reading Football Club in action, but due to working in East Anglia this is now less frequent than he would like. Although his son doesn’t mind, as it seems that he gets to use Bowman’s annual season ticket instead, especially when a match with Chelsea is underway.
The family connection with Notcutts/Waterers continues. Apart from Bowman’s own involvement, his wife also works for the company. The involvement may even continue into the next generation. “My oldest son began work at a Notcutts garden centre when he was 18 and has now gone on to be an electrician. My youngest son is doing work experience at Notcutts Bagshot centre. I will not discourage him if he wants to continue in horticulture,” he explains.
With a career that has meant working outside for much of the time, it is not surprising that the weather has resulted in some memorable moments. “I can remember one winter’s afternoon at Waterers when it was really torrential rain. I happened to slip on a raised sleeper bed and fell down backwards getting soaked,” he recalled.
“Then there was the time in a gale when we were trying to mend some panes of glass that had broken in a greenhouse. The wind peaked and an oak tree came through the glasshouse. We had to get out quickly. The polytunnels had disintegrated and we almost did not have a nursery to go back to.”
But Bowman has no regrets about entering horticulture all those years ago - it has proved to be the perfect career path for him. “I only wish that I had taken a photo of all the people I meet each year,” he laments. “I have met so many fantastic characters in the UK and Europe. For example, Douglas Wickens was a hell of a character. He used to frighten apprentices to death the way he shouted and bawled at us. If we stood up to him, he respected us. I learned a lot from him and still see him from time to time.”
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