The advertisement describes the rose as "floribunda in a deep mauve with a silver underside." It has been bred specially for the Society by a Mr. R Rawlins of Fixby to celebrate its 175th anniversary. The first 60 shrubs should be delivered from October of this year and will retail at £10 and there will be a second growing next year. After 2013 the rose will be available commercially from R V Roger Ltd. of Pickering. If you want one of those roses you should contact Jenny Lockwood on 01484 666827.
New plant varieties can be protected in the United Kingdom by registering the species with the Plant Variety and Seeds Office under the Plant Varieties Act 1997. Registration with the Office confers an intellectual property right known as "plant breeder's right". Registration confers the right on the holder to prevent:
- production or reproduction (multiplication),
- conditioning for the purpose of propagation,
- offering for sale, selling or other marketing, exporting, importing, stocking for any of the above purposes, or
- any other act prescribed for the purposes of that provision without his authority.
Alternatively, plant breeders in the UK can seek protection in all member states of the European Union by registering with the Community Plant Variety Office under Regulation 2100/04. The British government is party to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants which has established UPOV (The Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) in Geneva. If you want more information on plant breeders rights you can read my article on Plant Varieties on my IP/IT Update website. If you have a specific issue relating to plant varieties you can contact me on 0800 862 0055 or by filling in my contact form.
Returning to the concert itself, I can only say that it was the best performance of the Choral that I have ever attended. Three works were performed yesterday:
Being a balletomane I was already familiar with such works as Firebird and the Rite of Spring. The Symphony of Psalms was exquisite, especially the setting of Psalm 150. On being told at the pre-concert talk that Harvey's Messages consisted entirely of the names of angels, I was somewhat apprehensive about that work. All I can say was that it worked and that it was eminently suitable for what I call the Huddersfield sound. If you want to know what I mean compare the Choral's Dies Irae in Verdi's Requiem with that of any other choir. It was. incidentally, the first time I had ever heard a cimbalom, a Hungarian instrument that can best be described as a sort of manual piano. However, for me the best part of the programme was the Bruckner mass at the end.
The concert was to have been conducted by Martyn Brabbins but owing to Brabbins's indisposition the Chorus Master Joseph Cullen took his place. From my perspective, Cullen did a very good job indeed.
