It is hard to believe that it is over a year since Pam Bean died. She was remembered recently by the Brighton & Hove Organic Gardening Society. Pam was a very keen gardener all through her life. She learned her gardening skills from her mother in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Living in the centre of Brighton, she never had a large garden at home but she greatly enjoyed allotments. She had her own allotment which she gardened with Fred at Tenantry Down near the Race Course, from where she once famously pushed her wheelbarrow all the way back to West Hill Street.

Pam was involved in helping the Brighton & Hove Organic Gardening Society (BHOGS) since its founding 10 years ago. She was the Honorary President of BHOGS in the last year of her life. To commemorate Pam’s contributions BHOGS members collected funds to have a rustic oak bench carved with Pam’s name and runner beans. You can see a picture of the bench in the photo, with Pam’s grandchildren Leo and Helen sitting on it.

The bench is located to one side of the BHOGS allotment at Wealden Avenue off Old Shoreham Road. We can imagine Pam sitting on it and having a chat over a cup of tea with her friends, although not for too long because she would always have something to do and someone to help.

Chris Such

From The Whistler archives – November 1994

The highlight of the year for the Tenantry Down Allotment Association is THE SHOW, held at the beginning of September in Elm Grove School. Many are the tales of past glories and we all try to grow vegetables and flowers fit to exhibit. This year Fred put up a cup for the longest bean and included £1 for encouragement. I was busy with preserves and cakes for the domestic section and casually entered a long runner bean for each of us. One does not enter with hopes of financial reward as do the Northeners with their pot leeks – we pay 5p per exhibit and prizes range from 25p to £1.

The class for the longest bean attracted the most entries, and there was an air of excitement as we entered the hall for the prize-giving.

We were told that the vegetable judge had been puzzled by two of the entries, and had measured and re-measured them – not a millimetre difference. He advised that the first prize would have to be shared, so he stamped both cards ‘First Prize’. On turning the cards over, the names were revealed, Fred Bean and Pam Bean. We had won our own cup! For the record, I won the Domestic Section Cup for the first time.

Pam Bean 1994