After the highs of the 2022 / 23 hedgelaying season I was brought back down to Earth very rapidly by illness. Three months after winning the Isle of Wight competition I was diagnosed with Lymphoma, which of course seemed to have come from nowhere. Despite feeling physically fit and well I had to undergo a series of treatments including high dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. The treatments lasted from June to December and included various short stays in hospital. The chemo wiped me out from time to time, and my immune system was very depleted so that meant no physical work, and definitely no hedgelaying or any other work that could have led to cuts, scratches, and ultimately infections. All very frustrating of course, but life throws these things at you from time to time, and all you can do is take it on the chin and try and stay positive.

My illness also meant that I could not compete in the National Hedgelaying Championship 2023. As it happens, I was invited to judge the South of England Intermediate Class, the same class that I won in 2022. I was honoured to be asked, and very apprehensive at the same time.

I told myself that it was no different from when I assess candidates for their NHLS / Lantra accreditation, and after all, I knew what a good South of England Hedge looked like. In the end it was all very straightforward and there was a good standard of cutting as well as one clear winner. I also had the invaluable assistance of Mark Schofield of the South of England Hedgelaying Society (SoEHLS) who was stewarding the class.

During a break in my treatment, when my energy levels were high enough, I was able to do a short section of hedgelaying for a client in Easebourne near Midhurst. This was a job left over from the previous season and I really wanted to get it completed. The hedge was purely hazel, so the risks from thorn injury were negated. It was only 10 metres long, but it did take me all day. Clearly I did not have as much energy as I thought!

I was also heavily involved with hedgelaying training even though I still could not get ‘hands-on’ in the hedge. One of the best experiences was mentoring my good friend Benjamin Jennings. Benjamin helped me on a huge hedgelaying project at the end of the 2021 / 22 season and it was my pleasure to guide him through the finer points of hedgelaying on a couple of days of training.

Benjamin did a fine job on his section of hedge and was very keen to keep learning. As luck would have it, I had a long stretch of hedge to do once I had recovered from my treatment and I had been given the all clear. Benjamin jumped at the chance to help me, and as it turned out, I was to be forever grateful that he did.