What an honour it was to be asked to go to Parliament to help the RHS launch the Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Action Plan.

Giving a speech at the Houses of Parliament

Check me out !!!

The event will be hosted by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon. Guest speakers will include Defra Minister George Eustice MP, Royal Horticultural Society  Director General Sue Biggs,  Horticultural Trades Association Chief Executive Carol Paris and Royal Horticultural Society Young Ambassador George Hassall

We met at RHS Headquarters, Vincent Square; the weather and sky was beautiful and I was so excited !

I had been asked to write my speech based on the action plan and with the help of my mum & dad (who read the bits relevant to me) we wrote a speech that looked at 5 things that are important to me –

1. Why I love parks and gardens
2. How gardening can be good for your health
3. The importance of gardening in schools
4. Future jobs and qualifications in gardening
5. Why community gardening groups are important

I was so nervous just before the speech, my hands were all sweaty and my heart was pounding! But my RHS Campaign for School Gardening bestie, Alana Tapsell made me feel relaxed.

Here’s the video of my speech; if you want to read my speech email me on greenfingeredgeorge@gmail.com  and I’ll send you a copy:

I felt very fortunate to be introduced by Baroness Royall, she liked gardening too.

It was really nice to see the President of the RHS, Sir Nicholas Bacon again. He’s a really nice man and wished me well with my speech.

Just before my speech I met David Domoney he was really funny and told me to ‘break a leg’!

This is George Eustice, he’s the Minister for DEFRA – he was really nice to talk to and I enjoyed listening to him chat about Cornwall and The Eden Project (which I would like to visit one day). How cool.

I also met Baroness Fookes, Jamie Butterworth later told me that she’s a really important lady in Horticulture. She was really nice and asked me all about things I’d said in my speech.

I loved meeting Chris Collins, he was The Blue Peter Gardener. He was really daft and funny and said he would come to my school to do a gardening workshop. If you read this Chris I’m telling you my school gardening group and my teacher, Sarah will be “WELL CHUFFED!” and very, very proud. He gave me a book he had wrote about kids growing their own veg and he signed it with, “Happy Gardening George”

The Head of Gardens for the National Trust spoke to my Mum and said he was impressed with my speech and that I could do some work experience at a National Trust Garden when I’m a bit older – WOW – there’s 3 near me Tatton, Lyme Park and Dunham Massey and I have visited all of them recently.

A lady who is a garden writer said she had heard me speak before and was surprised that tonight’s speech was different, which is great. I write my speeches from scratch every time. My mum and dad ask me questions and I say what I think and feel and then my mum types it up.

I met Barbara Keeley the MP for Worsley. We talked about all the  exciting plans for RHS Garden Bridgewater. She said how big the site is and that there’s a hidden garden there too. It’s right on my doorstep and I can’t wait to find out more about it

It was lovely to meet Adam Frost too. I’d seen his show garden at Chelsea Flower Show and I really liked it. He congratulated me and told me about his new book about winning seven gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show

Here’s Jamie Butterworth the 8th RHS Ambassador – he’s TOP! He invited me to Hortus Loci where he works

A little bit about Parliament – what a cracking place and what a privilege.

Obviously you have to go through lots of security to get in. There’s lots of different rooms and Garfield Myrie from the RHS explained everything about what each room is used for. There’s the Lobby, The Grand Hall (which looked like a Harry Potter theme), the House of Commons and House of Lords, there’s plaques everywhere explaining the history of the building and events that have happened, statues of previous Prime Ministers, posh old furniture, beautiful décor and carved wood everywhere .

The event took place in the Strangers’ Dining Room and it was absolutely gorgeous in there with ‘House of Commons’ refreshments. And of course everything is in the shadow of Big Ben – ding, dong, ding, dong, boing, boing, boing !!!

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Me, my Mum and Alana skipped out of Parliament when it was all over and we were all giddy and happy. This picture  shows Big Ben photobombing our selfie !!

I was tired and hungry, but really chuffed about how it went. We jumped in a taxi and went straight to Nando’s – classy !

This is Peter & Bernard owners of the Luna & Simone Hotel, where I stayed. It’s a great hotel and these two are really funny guys, they were hilarious. They made our stay extra special and I would definitely stay there again.

I had 2 hours before my train, so for one last treat I went to Sealife to check out shark central – it was amazing !

And the icing of the cake was feeding the birds a few crumbs of food. They were so tame and cheeky. And yes I washed my hands after !!

I had the most amazing time and I want to thank Sue Biggs the boss of the RHS, she’s a lovely lady and I never would have done any of this without her. It was such an honour to represent children and a great opportunity to visit Parliament.

I loved it, it was brilliant, EPIC, BOOM !