The Frank Carter Memorial Plate
 

November 2008

As a part of making public its research into the history of Blackden and the surrounding area, The Blacken Trust has also instituted the Frank Carter Memorial Archive, which will be kept in The Old Medicine House, the home of The Blackden Trust. It will contain artefacts and copies of the archives of the Cheshire Gooseberry Societies.  The collection will be open to the public.

The plates, which will be awarded each year, will be made by the potter, John Hudson, and will record the year, the name of the grower and the name of the berry, so that every plate will be unique.  The award has been inaugurated by The Blackden Trust to celebrate the work of Frank Carter and to help ensure that his achievements are remembered.

The Trust hopes to develop a living archive by growing a specimen of each of the seventeen gooseberry cultivars developed by Frank Carter.  Some of these may be hard to find, as some of Frank’s earlier cultivars were superseded by his later ones, which are still winning shows.  The Trust is very grateful to local gooseberry growers for the promise of the donation of named trees to this commemorative collection.  These gifts will be acknowledged in the archive.