Sue Biggs

How would you describe your mum, Jane?

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. No, she was. I know I'm obviously biased as one of her daughters, but she was a truly amazing mum. She was a nurse for most of her life. So how she managed to work and have six of us and bring us all up pretty much on her own, because either my dad was possibly more in the pub or gone altogether. So she was amazing bringing us all up. And she was very popular with her friends, with all of our friends. And I always think when your mum is popular with all of your friends too, then she's quite special.

You were appointed to the board of the travel company Kuoni, the youngest person ever and the first woman. How much do those sorts of firsts matter to you?

I suppose they're quite nice really. It made me laugh in many ways because it's a Swiss company and it was quite a big thing for them that a woman was coming on and I remember going over for my first meeting there and they'd very nicely got me a present and a card. So I opened the card first and looked at it. I thought it was a bit strange and opened it inside and inside was the congratulations, at last we've got somebody to iron our shirts. Which I wish I'd kept. You know, I think people today might get offended by that, but I just thought it was very funny. And I think most things in life, if they're not quite right, if you laugh about them, it's really the best way to handle it. What would you tell a successful female professional to do if she received a card like that today? It just wouldn't be acceptable today. And I think you would just have to say, you know, just exactly that. It isn't acceptable. You can have it back again.

After leaving the job that you'd loved so much, you went through cancer treatment twice. What helped you through that very difficult time?

I am very lucky, not only my lovely brothers and sisters, but I've got amazing friends who were so supportive because it was not only two lots of cancer, but at the same time, unfortunately, my mum died. And then my husband decided after 30 years that he'd rather be somewhere else. So it was my 50s were my not happy decade. It was a tough time. And really, those friends... and family really got me through all of that but so too did my garden and I remember thinking at one point towards the end of all the the horribleness that happened I remember thinking oh I'm not sure whether this is all worth it and then I thought what I've just got this garden I've just moved in I've got to make this garden beautiful and it was actually wanting to do the garden and wanting to see the bulbs come up and the trees flower because I didn't quite know what colour this one was or that one so I think they're tremendously healing gardens and I wouldn't be without them and add to that my lovely dog Maddie and you know I'm I'm well made even however tough times are

One of your concerns in your current role is that we're facing a green skills crisis in the horticulture industry. How bad is it and what might the consequences be?

Well, it is bad. It was bad before we came upon the Brexit side of things, and it's going to be even worse after Brexit because a lot of the people working in horticulture are coming in from overseas, particularly Eastern Europe. Now, leaving aside that bit, not everyone views horticulture as a career to be respected and proud of. And yet, I look at our curator at Wisley, and he studied for seven years. He's post-degree level and creates amazing gardens and keeps them beautiful, grows fruit, grows vegetables, grows plants, trees. And to me, that deserves as much respect as somebody who's a doctor or an accountant or anything else that has more immediate respect.