Gardeners’ Glees
Gardeners’ glees were first mentioned back in series 2, episode 4 when Francesca Murray, a historian who is interested in 19th Century forgotten gardeners was explaining how florists and horticulturalists would sing glees at their gatherings; perhaps a special dinner or the tavern after market day.
Gardeners with their floral poles
As part of the Being Human festival, Francesca decided to to run:
A celebration of the narratives of forgotten gardeners and florists who met in market and town squares to sell their produce and later feasted with convivial singing! At this hands-on workshop you’ll create a unique garden glee (a gardener’s song) and decorate your own gardener’s pole.
The two men in the photo above are holding gardener’s poles, decorated to parade, perhaps through the village.
The singing of the glees at the workshop was led by Osnat Schmool, a singer, composer and musical director and co-artistic director of Filament theatre. And in a very short time the 15 people gathered in a community garden in North London found themselves singing together.
It’s hard to imagine such glees being sang today. In a couple of weeks time, I am going to the Garden Media Guild awards - how wonderful would it be if suddenly in a room full of plant people; horticulturalists, writers, broadcasters - the room burst into a glee!
Below you can see some pictures of the floral poles and the toppers that went on them and a box from one of the friendly societies. These friendly societies, were a kind of mutual self-help group, you paid into them and if a member had a need for financial assistance, they could turn to the friendly society for help. Francesca in her research has traced the history of the Gardener’s Royal Benevolent Institution in 1839, set up to specifically help gardeners and their families.
I hope you enjoy the glees and if you are interested in history, maybe too take a listen to Francesca’s programme in series 2 - here is a link to the episode page.