Daphne Ledward
Encyclopedia
Early life
She was born in BradfordBradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. At the age of three she moved to Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. Her parents separated and she moved with her mother to south Lincolnshire. She attended Stamford High School
Stamford High School, Lincolnshire
Stamford High School is an English girls' Independent School situated in the market town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England on .-Education:...
, then a direct grant grammar school
Direct grant grammar school
A direct grant grammar school was a selective secondary school in England and Wales between 1945 and 1976 funded partly by the state and partly through private fees....
. She left at the end of her lower sixth. She had originally wanted to become a vet, but in the 1960s such careers were not encouraged for women. She began training as a quantity surveyor
Quantity surveyor
A quantity surveyor is a professional working within the construction industry concerned with building costs.The profession is one that provides a qualification gained following formal education, specific training and experience that provides a general set of skills that are then applied to a...
at the College of Estate Management via a correspondence course
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
. However, she felt this was not the right course for her. She had some time in hospital, and decided that she wanted to work in the social occupations. She became a Welfare Assistant with Kesteven County Council
Kesteven
The Parts of Kesteven are a traditional subdivision of Lincolnshire, England. This subdivision had long had a separate county administration , along with the other two parts, Lindsey and Holland.-Etymology:...
. Six months later she became District Welfare Officer for South Kesteven
South Kesteven
South Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Grantham, Stamford, Bourne and Market Deeping.-History:...
. In 1971 there was a reorganisation in administration of the department she was working for and she decided to leave. She wrote short stories for women's and teenage magazines.
Gardening
She undertook a gardening correspondence course, and having got to know a nurseryman in 1972, she started her own business in landscape gardeningLandscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
. She originally wanted to design the gardens and let customers plant it and re-arrange the garden themselves. Customers generally wanted the whole thing doing for them. In 1973 she worked for Brian Ellis Mailing Services in Bedford, and in 1974 she started her own business which sent plants by direct mail. The mail services where provided by the Bedford company. The company was not as lucrative as hoped for, so Daphne concentrated on landscape gardening.
Broadcasting
In 1980 she became the gardening presenter for the newly-established BBC Radio LincolnshireBBC Radio Lincolnshire
BBC Lincolnshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Lincolnshire — apart from the northern parts, which are covered by BBC Radio Humberside...
. In 1982 she became the first female panel-member of Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Gardeners' Question Time
Gardeners' Question Time
Gardeners' Question Time is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts.-History:...
. In 2001 she presented her own TV series, Garden Hopping, seen on BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. She has written gardening books.
Personal life
She married Anthony Twitchett in Bourne, LincolnshireBourne, Lincolnshire
Bourne is a market town and civil parish on the western edge of the Fens, in the District of South Kesteven in southern Lincolnshire, England.-The town:...
in 1976. She later married John Hands in 1992 in Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
. He was a sound engineer for BBC Midlands. They live in Surfleet Seas End
Surfleet
Surfleet is a small village on the Lincolnshire fens, situated on the River Glen about five miles north of Spalding.The population is about 1,266 people, many of whom commute to regional populations centres such as Spalding, Boston and Peterborough....
near Spalding
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....
.