In 1969 I saw a new breed of job advertised at Cannington College. It was a Horticultural Technician. At the time, this was the cutting edge of horticulture, and I was excited about the prospect.

I was interviewed, and subsequently engaged, by one of the men for whom I have come to have the utmost respect. Stuart Brookfield or "SHB" as he was known, was the head of the Horticultural Department and something of a legend in horticultural circles. He was a technical expert, an excellent man manager, and a true gentleman. Cannington was a wonderful place, and I found it to be the equivalent of a finishing school.

For the first time in my life, the delight of not having to spend Monday morning discussing how "the team" went on the previous Saturday was a real joy. Not only that, but I was working with eminent figures in the Horticultural word, and in an academic environment where knowledge and understanding were prized.

The role of a technician was to prepare all the practical work for students, to maintain rare or unusual plant collections, to undertake the trials and experimental work, and occasionally to take practical groups and plant identification classes.

Although the work included both amenity and commercial horticulture, my focus tended to be on the commercial production side, with glasshouse crops, outdoor vegetables and an extensive collection of apple trees and orchards (what else in Somerset!). I can still taste the flavour of a crisp pink Discovery apple picked in the quiet chill of early morning and wiped of dew. It stays with you forever.

Somerset also was the first sustained period of living away from my home, and brought the maturity that accompanies such events. Several happy years, including watching the flower power of the 60's grow and fade passed in a twinkling, and I began to think about the future. I realised my qualifications had gone as far as they could without improving my basic education. Two years and five more GCEs later, I had also succeeded in obtaining the preliminary level of the RHS National Diploma in Horticulture, which was the first of the last rungs on ther ladder.