Hello from Lucetta, garden volunteer
This blog post was written by Lucetta Dodi, former garden volunteer. Lucetta was hoping to return to palace last year, but the pandemic got in the way; we hope we can see you again soon Lucetta!
Dear all,
I am Lucetta, maybe someone remembers me, since I was a volunteer in the garden in summer 2019. Great summer that one. Before the pandemic changed it all.
Needless to say, I had a wonderful time with Lucy, Hattie, Chris and all the volunteers I met. My choice of spending my holidays at Fulham Palace must have been seen unusual, definitely unexpected and even weird. An Italian middle-aged woman who fills in an application form as a volunteer in August in London?
I know, it can sound quite extra-ordinary. For this reason when I had my interview with Lucy I was a bit anxious. A phone call in English, or better to say an interview in English with someone who did not know me and who was in charge of deciding whether I was suitable for the job or not. What is more, the line was bad. Now I am smiling at that afternoon, when I was waiting for Lucy’s call and I was so worried.
I had the same feeling my first day at the garden with Rachel and Lucy. In my profession I work with words and I am well aware of how powerful they can be. Mastering a language is not easy, it goes beyond the vocabulary and the syntax, it is about the subtleties of a gesture, of an intonation, of a wrong collocation.
My main concern was my English. I am a hard-working person and I am used to working in team, I have no problem in meeting new people but will I be able to express myself so as to show who I really am? This is what I was keeping on thinking, but after the first day I started to feel more and more at ease because everyone was kind and welcoming. Talking to customers at the wheelbarrow, sharing some food during lunchtime or a tea in the morning with the volunteers and the gardeners, taking care of those beautiful flowers were moments of joy and my worries vanished. I was part of the group, I fitted in. I had made the right choice.
I have always loved London. And with Fulham Palace, well, it was love at first sight. It is off the beaten track but not too far from the hustle and bustle of the city, which I like since I live in a small town. It is so peaceful and so quintessentially British with its combination of history, cultural heritage, vibrant colours that, when I visited the Palace the first time with my family, I said to myself: this is the place where I would like to spend more time. How I came to know Fulham Palace is a little secret that I mean to keep, although I think I have already spilled the beans with some volunteers.
So I put pen to paper and unexpectedly I was successful. My summer in the garden was an experience to cherish: for the people I met, for the beauty I saw, for the job I did, for the language I spoke. My areas of expertise were the potatoes and the marigolds. Digging up potatoes and deadheading the whilted marigolds, to be specific. In addition, I was quite good at edging the borders as well as at spotting the bugs in the hedge, while not bad when it came to piling up some stones or weeding the space under the trees.
Not exactly my things in my ordinary life. I am a teacher of Italian and Latin in a secondary school in Parma, but for this reason my job at the garden was much more challenging and rewarding. Challenging mostly because of the language, rewarding for what I learned and for the opportunity of talking to people I was working with.
No matter how different our history is, or our traditions are, people, good people, can connect, they can share their points of view and talk together. This is what I have been learning over the years. And there is nothing better than working and eating together in order to connect. My summer at Fulham Palace proved it.
I was ready to come back in summer 2020, but the pandemic has brought all the plans to a halt. It has been and it is still a rough ride for everyone. Sadness and grieving have been feelings we have experienced very often lately. It will not last forever. O wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
I will come back to Fulham. I look forward to it. In my memory the colours of the garden with the purple of its dahlias along the old wall have been a comforting thought during these tough months. P.B. Shelley cannot get it wrong.
Un abbraccio a tutti voi
Lucetta