My father, Tony Bracegirdle, who has died aged 83, was a successful amateur rose grower and exhibitor. He won the Royal National Rose Society open championship in 1996 and 17 more times over the next 20 years.
His love of roses began in 1965 when he saw “Ena Harkness” in bloom in the garden of his new wife’s childhood home. He said it was the most beautiful thing he had seen, and from that moment wanted to be a rose grower.
