George's Gardeners

Here are a few stories from gardeners;

A Man With A Truly Big Heart
by Konrad Engbers

The man who founded Engbers Garden Centre has told how George Harrison helped him to establish the business in its early days.

Konrad Engbers recalls how George visited the centre just after he started. “He came in to see me and asked how things were. I told him it was a little slow and he said ‘I’ll give it a little push for you’. He then bought almost every tree I had in stock and first thing the next day a motorcycle courier turned up with payment.

“Ever since then he was one of my most loyal and regular customers.”

Konrad, aged 79, sold the business two years ago but has never forgotten how George helped him on his way.

They first met when he arrived at Konrad’s original nursery near Abingdon in the late 60s.

“He had called in to another nursery just along the road from mine,” said Konrad. “The owner there told him he didn’t serve hippies and to clear off. I had no idea who he was but we got talking and he began to visit regularly.

“There was a small hut in the nursery that I had converted into a bar. We used to sit together and enjoy a couple of drinks. I remember one particular occasion when he played his guitar there for me.”

And George would walk down the hill from Friar Park to the market where Konrad ran a stall. “He would wait in the queue, take his turn and never expected any preferential treatment. One day he asked me up to his garden for advice on some trees that were dying. After that, he regularly asked for my advice on any gardening matters.

“One Christmas Eve he sent a message down to the stall inviting me to Friar Park for a drink with his then wife, Patti . And on another occasion he took me over to the Catherine Wheel for lunch.”

When Konrad had problems getting planning permission for his nursery at Shiplake he had lots of support from many people, including George.

George continued to visit Engbers and, Konrad said, would sit in the coffee shop in his dirty wellies talking about herbs and Hare Krishna, herbal tea and plants. Nobody would recognise him.

But it was for the support that George gave him that Konrad remembers the star most.

He said: “He was such a kind man with no airs and graces — a man with a truly big heart.”

This is from George Robb (that is his real name)

A Generous Man

George Harrison’s former stonemason has been fondly remembering the man he knew as a ‘generous and intelligent’ man who was deeply affected by the death of his former Beatles colleague John Lennon.

Speaking at his home in Oxford, George Robb, aged 81, told the Standard: “I knew George as an employer and there was never anything I could say against him.

“He was very good to me — a very generous man.”

“I remember the first Christmas I worked for him, and I was in a club down the road when someone told me there was a taxi outside for me.

“I went outside and George had sent me a hamper from Harrods all the way from London in a taxi!”

Mr. Robb was first invited to work on Friar Park in 1980 and he was awestruck at the beauty of the place.

“When I first went to Friar Park, I was stunned because it was such a beautiful, beautiful place, and I couldn’t believe that one person was undertaking the work he was going to spend on it, because it was a monumental job.

“I worked on the main house, the gardener’s lodge, the middle lodge and the front lodge during my years there, as well as the gardens and maintaining the lakes, which are probably two or three acres.

“George literally put millions of pounds into the place over the years, and I don’t think he would like it to be opened to the public, because he was always such a private man.

“I have worked all over the world but Friar Park is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen.”

Although Mr. Robb was always aware of his role as one of Harrison’s employees, he was very close to the family.

“When Dhani was learning to speak, George insisted that he called him Daddy George and me Stonemason George so that he didn’t get confused.

“He was an adventurous lad who loved climbing on the scaffolding, and he’d be up there with me, 30 or 40 feet off the ground quite happily enjoying himself.

“George himself was a generous and intelligent man who suffered no fools, and he was always very private. He used to enjoy a drink at the Row Barge pub in Henley but he didn’t go into the town as much after John Lennon was shot.”

Mr. Robb’s wife, Mina, added: “That really shook him — he used to say that if he landed after a flight, and came out onto the steps of the plane, he would be wondering which person might have a gun.”