Red and White Roses - Barty and Meg Allen

Roses were a symbol of their marriage

(Newspaper cutting, 1975 - Contributed)

In a garden at Anerley, two rose bushes have been planted recently, a pure white “Virgo”, and the beautiful res “Happiness”. They have been presented, with a simple inscription ‘In Remembrance’ to a Pastor who recently conducted a funeral at Butterworth. Behind the simple gesture lies a romantic story that goes back four generations.

The tale began in Cape Town, where a bashful young man, just about the turn of the century, fell deeply in love with a young lady. Not knowing where he stood in her affections, he set about finding out, by presenting her with two fine rosebuds – a red and white, and asking her to choose the one she liked best. “For”, said he to himself “red stands for love, and white for friendship only”. The lady looked at the buds and cried, “May I have BOTH!”

Some weeks before the wedding, “Meg” was sent “home to England” to stay with relatives. “Barty” arranged with a florist in London to deliver to her a box containing one red rose and one white, so long as they were parted.

The years passed, and a prosperous little fruit farm-cum-forestry, with trading store and a post office on the Wild Coast was the home of the happy couple and their four children. “Barty” grew a rose garden, and every morning he could be seen among his roses, carefully selecting two buds for his love – a daily gift that never became a bore, but was received with the same delight she had displayed years before!

When “Barty” passed away, their children kept the tradition going, and “Meg” was never seen without her red and white flowers, pinned to her dress each morning. Red for love, and white for friendship.

A few weeks ago “Granny Meg” was buried near her Transkei home. She’d spent two weeks in hospital, during which the Matron had herself supervised the picking and arranging of the two roses on “Granny’s” bedside table.

The tradition lives on in the family - to the fourth generation, - the red and white roses symbolizing the sense of values, faith and family devotion that holds them together. And who dares say that red and white flowers are unlucky? Perhaps this tale will help to lay that little ghost.