INTERVIEW
Business blossoms
from humble start
By Peter White
In the previous edition of Island
Life we revealed how Mrs. Ursula
Thompson was a babe in arms
when she and her family, with the
exception of her father, escaped the
horrific World War II bombings of
Berlin and Dresden, and eventually
began a new life in England.
In the final part of the series we tell
how Mrs. Thompson and her late
husband David built their Garden
Centre empire – including the one
at Newchurch - from very humble
beginnings.
David and Ursula Thompson met
through their local church, where
David played the piano for the
children at Sunday School, and
she was one of the Sunday School
teachers.
Mrs Thompson recalls: “I trained
as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital, and
that was the way I expected my
career to go. But then I met this very
handsome young man at the church,
who happened to be David.
“We got to know each other, and
he decided he would like to marry
me when I finished my nursing. He
was totally honest with me, telling
me he was trained in horticulture
and wanted to own his own nursery
business one day. He said that if I
married him it would be a lot of
hard work, and I would have to be
alongside him. We married in 1962.”
Although having been warned Mrs
Thompson did not envisage the hard
work involved, as David acquired
derelict sites and converted them one
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by one into highly successful Garden
Centres and nurseries.
“David had tremendous vision,
says Mrs Thompson. “He saw
derelict places and said we could do
something with them. Our first site
was in Petham, a village just outside
Canterbury, the main road went
between Canterbury Cricket Ground
and the M20, so it was quite busy.
“It was a two-acre site with a very
old house. Two sisters had lived there
sometime beforehand, and although
there were a few apple trees around,
the rest of the ground was pretty
much barren, apart from brambles.
So in 1976 we began the task
of clearing the ground, winching
out trees, and building our own
poly-tunnels. It was an amazing
challenge and very hard work.
“David was still working at Wye
College, and would come back in the
evening to start building the nursery
and I was also doing three nights’
nursing, so we were both working
day and night.
A lovely old guy named Bill Wood,
who lived nearby, came across with
his tractor and helped us clear the
ground. We grew vegetables, bedding
plants and flowers, we started by just
selling them from out of the garage,
and selling tomatoes from the front
door.
“Bill helped us a lot, but didn’t
want paying. He just wanted some
fresh vegetables and flowers every
week, and he would take them and
share them with the old people in the
Top: Mrs Thompson working at her
f irst nursery at Petham, Canterbury
in 1977
Above: Mr and Mrs Thompson at the
propagation nursery on the Island in
2005