Hidden Winchester: ALAN SMITH & TIM COX
In reality, it is the subconscious vestibule of memory to the conscious day-to-day lives of the community which lives, studies and works there.
One of those rather fun memory exercises that Old Wykehamists enjoy sharing, other than recalling the names, nicknames, and letters of each House, is remembering the pattern of each year’ s timetable. Memories of div dons, of chemistry labs, or of first encounters with Win Co Fo, may slowly filter through, or perhaps even the very occasional shirk that was raised. One may notice that those memories come back with greater ease than might otherwise be expected. For they are associated with some of the most beautifully and carefully curated backdrops against which any young person could ever imagine learning. For example, no memory of journeying up to books is ever fulfilled( except by a Collegeman) without the half-circumnavigation of War Cloister. One of many beautiful gardens in Winchester, the War Memorial Cloister, has seen a curatorial change of late, as have also the Warden’ s and Music School Gardens. None of these happens by accident. They happen through a great amount of love, often throughout cold and wet winters, as well as warm summers. And they happen thanks to two men in particular – Alan Smith and Tim Cox. Alan has been Senior Gardener at Win Coll for five years. He had started his career in a different guise, training in signwriting. After a decade or so of working for large wholesale grocery companies, he decided that his calling was in the curatorial practice of garden design, whereupon he proceeded to win two RHS awards for his work around the Winchester area. He had never heard of the school before he applied for the role he now occupies. However, after one good look at the land that lay on offer, he left his garden design business behind in order to dedicate his skills to the landscape that underpins daily learning. Whilst green fingers were grown over time by Alan, Tim was busy in the world of television. He had spent twenty four years as an editor, for the BBC and ITV, in London and then in Southampton. After a while, he had had enough of the constant hum of the screen, and decided to take on a different rhythm.
Image on previous page: Tim Cox( left) and Alan Smith( right) in the Scholar’ s Garden.
20 The Wykeham Journal 2016