The Doddin we used to Scrump

Saturday 12th May ’07

Vikkie, who had been in correspondence with me over the original Doddin we used to scrump, had given me the phone number of Betty who owned the Doddin. I gave her a call and a she was very amenable. She had been told by Mrs. Gibbs shortly before she died that the tree was special and was called a Doddin. I arranged to go and see the tree with an old “Webheath Gang” pal of mine Grant Petford. It turns out that Grant has been looking for a Doddin for years and had not come up trumps. He was under the impression that the Gibbs tree had long gone and the one he’d planted as a kid in his parents garden two doors down had also gone west. Mary said she was in all day on the 12th May so after a quick phone call to Grant I picked him up and set off on the short journey to Betty’s house in Heathfield Road. Betty was there to greet us as we walked down her garden path. Grant and I went round the back and there was the tree. Taller than we remembered (or was it that we’d grown). We chatted, had a few photos taken and took some cuttings. Grant was to try sticking some twigs in the ground to see if they took and I tried four little hardwood cutting in rooting powder kept in polythene bags. Grant was overjoyed to see the tree just where he’d remembered it.