Local people may remember Mike Wheale, a local council parks officer who was very supportive to the needs of our community over many years service and retired towards the end of 2009. Mike only had a few months left to complete his 50 years public service with Birmingham City Council, which would allow him to have attained an appropriate RHS recognition of 50 years service with a medal and bar.

Fortunately, the Birmingham Parks Service had been invited by the RHS to return with a large floral display after a break of 10 years to the Chelsea Flower Show, which was to be followed by a showing at the BBC Gardeners World and the “Gardeners Weekend” show in Kings Heath Park .

This subsequently allowed Mike to act as a consultant and share his expertise with this discipline and achieve his well deserved RHS 50 Year medal. The display was supported by a substantial donation from B&Q and the theme of the display was in support of “Help for Heroes“, titled “The Road to Recovery Garden” which we understand achieved a silver medal award at Chelsea and a further award at “Gardeners World” The two floral displays depicted a Spitfire and a `Chinook Helicopter` above a sustainable garden built to show the journey that our injured troops face from battlefield to home, as a symbol of hope in the start of their journey