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Centenary site nominated for a Webby Award

100 years - 100 stories: Building the Centenary homepage

Jim Harden

Jim Harden, Head Gardener at Wye, has worked at the campus for almost half a century. Jim joined the gardening team in 1958 as an apprentice at the age of 15 after showing an early aptitude for botany.

"I liked working with plants at school and knew that I didn't want to follow my dad and brothers into farming. A job came up at Wye and I've been here ever since."

In his first years, Jim was mainly based in the campus' tropical glasshouses. "In those days," he says, "we raised all the plants for the campus gardens in the glasshouses."

At that time, the college at Wye specialised in agriculture and horticulture with around 250 students living on campus. Jim particularly enjoyed helping with student practicals twice a week.

The workload for Jim and his team increased in the late 1960s as the woodlands and sports grounds were added to their list of places to look after. He remembers that Commemoration was a particularly busy time of year. "There was always a big fuss on graduation day-everything in the gardens had to be absolutely spotless."

Jim also remembers a long-standing feature of Wye campus-the college tortoise. Archimedes, as he was known, lived by the Parlour and was a student mascot for many years. His fame even extended to being presented to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother during her visit in 1958.

In 1985, Jim was appointed Head Gardener and witnessed the winding down of many commercial aspects of horticulture at the College-including pick your own fruit and sales of plants.

Among the most memorable events for Jim was the great hurricane of 1987, which caused immense damage around the campus. Jim remembers 20 oak trees at Withersdane "just flopping over" and the enormous clean-up afterwards to clear roads and paths.

Fortunately, however, the oldest tree on campus-a 200 year-old mulberry at Withersdane-survived the winds and can still be seen beside the herb garden today.

Jim's lifetime interest in the college has extended to other members of his family-his wife Sara has worked for the Distance Learning Programme for the past 10 years and both his children-son Grant and daughter Emma-completed work experience at the college during their last years at school.

Jim lives close to the campus, at nearby Bilting. Outside work, he is a keen cricketer and, as a youth, was a member of the Kent Under 16 and Under 19 squads. Nowadays, he doesn't play so much-joining the league side for Hythe Portex occasionally-but he does enjoy a round of golf.

He also spends much of his spare time on his own quarter-acre garden at home but, as at work, prefers tending flowers to looking after the trees. "I am not a woodsman at heart," he says, "I have always enjoyed flowering trees."

Jim has so far served the College for 48 years and will have notched up 50 by the time of his retirement. His outstanding long service has already received several recognitions-including a tankard and Long Service Award from the Kent Show, a Long Service Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society and a National Gardens Award to mark 40 years.

  © 2007 Imperial College London