A year and some ago, I reported on the sad passing of Gail Bromley, a long-standing friend and someone whom I had come into contact with regularly in the organising of, and attending at, Horsell village events.

Shortly, her initiative in starting the Horsell Garden Safari with two friends, Michael Charlesworth and Penny Kramer, will be be run for the 23rd time on 15-16 June – which includes Father's Day.

Her funeral truly was a celebration of a life well lived and full of revelations about her, where her many friends and colleagues found that they knew merely a part and only her family knew the whole.

Gail’s educational and conservation work with the network of botanic gardens around the country, Europe and beyond has been documented, as has her involvement with Historic Houses. It is heart-warming then, to learn of these organisations continuing to value Gail’s contributions.

Historic Houses now offer their members an annual conference, workshop and masterclass on Outdoor Learning & Community Engagement, an initiative and content close to her heart that Gail started and almost finished. Historic Houses have brought it to fruition in her name.

BGEN, the Botanic Gardens Education Network, an association of botanic gardens based in the UK but with members throughout Europe and beyond, where Gail was one of the founding trustees and long-time treasurer, have created the Gail Bromley Award in honour of her contributions to the botanical world, more specifically, Gail’s contributions to environmental education.

Contributions that took her not only to Patagonia and Peru, Jordan and Jakarta but also to Cornwall, Conwy and Cleckheaton.

The award was launched at the recent annual conference and AGM of BGEN held in the wonderful National Botanic Garden of Wales, in itself a journey worth making to an area worth exploring.

The award’s aims are to support early career individuals, working within the plant conservation sector, in an environmental education role. It is not an award to recognise long-time involvement in the field but to enthuse and mentor those just starting out on the journey where help and guidance will provide a much needed boost. Great oaks from little acorns grow.

Gail was more the one who planted trees rather than one who managed the forest.

The recipient of the award receives for a year free membership of the network, free access to all of BGEN’s training courses, free attendance at the next face-to-face BGEN Conference (they are held alternately online and face to face), and a mentoring and support programme from the BGEN board and more experienced members during the award year.

All give access to many of the tools needed to embark on a successful career in environmental education. They are also invited to present at the following face-to-face annual conference. Gail’s apprentice!

In this and (hopefully) following years, Gail’s efforts in regards to the Horsell Garden Safari will be enjoyed by the village but her efforts in botanic gardens around the country by the nation.

A lasting legacy of her labour of love.

Currently the sun is shining and in the high blue sky a couple of red kites are circling. Spring has indeed sprung. But the weather people are still warning of cold nights and suggesting gardeners do not rush off to buy fresh plants – not just yet.

In Pirbright they remember that only weeks ago there was standing water on the roads exacerbated by blocked drains. The parish council called in Surrey Highways, which managed to clear the blockages and, in doing so, a long-lost manhole cover was unearthed and the cause of the blockage cleared.

I did wonder how anyone could mislay a manhole cover – surely such things are clearly mapped out somewhere?

It is a well-known fact – to most of us – that in the autumn leaves fall from trees, get mulched by passing feet and vehicles, and get washed into drainage ditches and from there into larger stretches of water.

Where drainage ditches run by roads there is not just natural detritus but run-off which contains oil and tyre residue, which all end up in our ponds, lakes, and rivers. I have read that research is ongoing into methods of preventing or, at least, lessening this. I have read it for several years and it is still “being looked into”.

In Pirbright the village pond underwent essential maintenance last autumn, resulting in the removal of 20 years' worth of silt. The cost for taking the silt away was in the region of £30,000.

The parish council, faced with spreading the cost on to residents, thought it much better, economically and environmentally, to spread the nutrient rich silt across the Green.

The council's contractors would then start the reseeding process. I've not been out that way to check on the progress but I suspect the green shoots of common sense will have been busy.

During Covid it was not only understandable but desirable to be able to work from home. It must not be forgotten that there are many trades and professions where this is impossible; there were many people we just could not do without, postmen and women being one very obvious service as they helped people keep in some sort of contact.

But now? Too easy to snuggle down once more – “If it's urgent they'll call back...” – but that is now a very big problem, especially with the very big companies, such as banks and various government-run businesses such as HMRC.

Offices lie empty, or only partially used. Many of the ancillary industries, right down to sandwich kiosks on railway stations, go out of business. I was delighted, therefore, to read recently that no less a person than the boss of JP Morgan Investment Bank, Jamie Dimon, has “railed against Gen Z employees who work from home”.

He complained of slow decision making, phone calls going unanswered, and of younger recruits who were being left behind because of the shift to remote working. He criticised employees for spending all their time on Zoom instead of in offices.

His very justifiable rant continued and I am sure that many cheered his honesty. And many checked their contracts.

He lambasted those using the excuse that they work from home on Fridays saying: “I call a lot of people on Fridays, and there's not a goddam person you can get hold of. I've had it with this kind of situation.”

And so say all of us. His expletive-laden outburst was reported in the Daily Telegraph for 15 February and worth checking out. I seem to remember that “we” lent “them” – the banks – rather a lot of money not so very long ago.

If we can't have it back, may we at least have some decent service?

Coffee and chat at church on Friday coincided with the sudden closure of Heathrow Airport. We commiserated with those whose arrangements had been badly hit. Particularly with the lady flying from Newark (US) for her father's funeral and the flight being, literally, turned around mid air and she back to the US. Snakes and ladders with too many snakes.

Apart from our commiserations there was some alarm that a fire at a substation could have such an ongoing effect. Of course, terrorism was discussed – and discussed nationally on the media later in the day.

But surely such important places should be guarded like Fort Knox - OK, so James Bond coped with that but surely basic security should stave off any such dramas?

We've seen what chaos Just Stop Oil supporters can cause by gluing themselves to important roads. Locally we have seen what chaos can be caused by closing the M25. Even thoughtlessly parked vehicles in residential roads can result in death if ambulances and fire engines cannot pass.

Was it Prince Phillip who warned of Accidents Looking for Somewhere to Happen?

I admit to searching for such places, and carefully turn saucepan handles inwards, and look round the house muttering “what if?” as I see something which might get caught in something, which might then fall on something, and which might then cause a suitable place for that accident to happen.

I've quoted this before, but it's worth repeating, even though it has appeared in many variations over centuries.

Perhaps all those dealing with our security should have it written large in their office – or wherever they are working from these days.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.