I don’t know if the people of India are able to view the standard BBC TV programmes or not but I suspect that one of the many satellite or cable channels may show some stuff from the BBC TV. On the off chance that this is so and the fact that the review that follows is about India I am posting it. I would be interested to hear if anyone has seen the programme in India.
The new season of Ground Force opened on 18th April 2001 with the showing of a trip to India to turn what can only be described as an area of scorched earth sporting a solitary Neem tree, into a garden of delight for orphaned children, only this time they had three days to do it in instead of the usual two.
The usual crew of Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh led by Alan Titchmarsh arrived at the behest of the British Council in Delhi to work their magic at a children’s home at Palna.
Aided by many Indian volunteers, the garden took shape under the watchful gaze of Alan as unusual methods were adopted to position three huge concrete tubes. In England the crew would have had lifting gear to unload the concrete tubes from the back of a truck but no such tackle was available to them. The solution offered by the volunteers was to position a series of old tyres on the ground behind the back of the truck and then to drive it backwards a few yards and come to a sudden stop. The first of the smaller tubes, having had its chocks removed, carried on with the momentum and toppled off the back of the truck to land gently on the tyres to be guided away to safety. The second tube received the same treatment but the last and largest tube some 4 feet in diameter, because of its weight would not stand up to such treatment so a novel method was devised. More tyres were brought in and placed on top of one of the smaller tubes and in front of it. Once again the skill of the truck driver was called upon as he backed up the lorry stopping just short of the smaller tube. The large concrete tube rolled back off the lorry and onto the tyres on the small concrete tube and rested there. Then as the truck eased slowly forward the tube ‘walked’ down to the floor and landed gently on the laid down tyres.
Now came the turn of the JCB as the skilful driver, who spoke no English, manoeuvred his machine and gently eased and pushed the mammoth tube into its resting place.
Work very nearly got held up when the arrival of the awaited wheelbarrows turned out to be toys for the orphans. What Tommy needed were large wheelbarrows to transport the mortar from the mixer to where he needed it to lay down a path. But this was India the land of improvisation and a JCB again came to the rescue and used its bucket to do the transporting job.
Charlie’s water features hit a few problems but these too were overcome and ended up giving a splash of tinkling water to disturb the quite of an Indian sunset.
For three days the many volunteers worked from sun up to sun down, digging, planting, moving slabs of stone and carting heavy trees and plants around until in a final rush as the guests arrived for the opening ceremony, the job was finally done.
A desert had been transformed into an oasis of shade, peace and tranquillity with its own “Terror Run” for the kids.
The delight and wonder on the little children’s faces as the beautiful garden was revealed to them will stay in my memory for evermore. I’ll bet that by the end of the show Kleenex sales had gone through the roof. I’m a hard-hearted old sea dog but it got me right there and I could feel an unashamed tear trickle down my face.