PERSONAL VIEW - BERNARD WARD
(In this, the second in our series of personal views, Mr.
Bernard Ward, former President of the Club, botanical
expert and a Verderer of Epping Forest, answers questions
put to him by the Editor.)
Q. How did you first become interested in botany?
A. My interest in plants began when my Mother showed me
flowers of all kinds. She was greatly attracted to all
plants although not very knowledgeable about the names of
any but the commonest. In those days, schools did not
offer the advantages which children of the present time-
enjoy, for there were no nature tables or similar
opportunities to learn about plants or natural history.
Later on the school curriculum did include one botany
lesson a week, and the teacher spent each lesson going over
the same ground, describing root, stem, leaf and flower and
their functions. At my Mother's instigation my Father
obtained a small monthly publication which was, I think,
entitled 'The Nature Reader Monthly'. This embraced in
simple language an abundance of information about all kinds
of natural history and included articles about the stars,
general historical features, and similar subjects. I read
these booklets again and again until I knew many of them by
heart, About this time I acquired as a present a set of
six books in the 'I Know' series - the 'Wood I Know', the
'Pond I Know' and so on, and these, too, provided both an
excellent background of natural history and the means to
identify and name many plants, animals, birds and insects.
About this time I made friends with a local working
gardener, a countryman who amused himself in spare time
sketching flowers and local scenes. From him I learned a
great deal about flowers, both wild and garden, although I
have since found that many of the names he used were local
names from the village where he had spent his youth.
Nevertheless, whilst wandering the Essex countryside in his
company, I found and had pointed out many plants, the
existence of which I had only read about in my books, or
of which I had no knowledge at all. From both my Mother
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