Friday 15th August 2014
Today the alpine plant world has lost a wonderful character. Phil Phillips died this afternoon.
Gwen will find the loss of her beloved Phil very hard to bear: we send her every good wish as we express our sympathy to her, daughters Carol and Wendy and all their family.
There will be many of you who remember the super talks given by this dedicated duo who travelled widely to study alpine and rock garden plants in the wild and who recorded their trips methodically with superb photography and meticulously chronicled notes.
A little while ago Phil and Gwen decided to use the internet to share their knowledge and experiences with others. The purpose of their website was to "leave a selection from our library, not only as a record of an absorbing and wonderful hobby enjoyed by two absolute amateurs, but hopefully for the pleasure of other interested enthusiasts".
Their website, "the Phillips Wildflower Gallery" overseen by their grand-daughter, Kristen Repsher is justly appreciated by plant lovers.
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While it has been my sad duty to announce the passing of Phil Phillips I am pleased to be able to temper this sad news with a much happier announcement of a future plan of Mr and Mrs Phillips in collaboration with the SRGC.
Gwen and Phil were always more than generous in assisting anyone with questions about routes and plans for making trips to enjoy plants in habitat and to this end they made plans with us to further share their immense portfolio of information in the future.
In association with their old friend Mike Ireland, I have been privileged to discuss with Phil and Gwen a project to develop an archive of their photos and writings which will be prepared and added to the SRGC website. The SRGC will continue the policy of the Phillips in sharing information freely on the website. Links will be established to the Wildflower site, which will remain.
This archive of the Phillips Wildflower material will take some time to process for the site and while it is sad that Phil has passed away before any of the project has appeared onsite we are so pleased that he was assured of the continuance of these plans and knew how valuable we considered the archive to be.
Phil had been in poor health for some time and sadly Gwen is not keeping well either. It was just wonderful for Mike and myself to be able to talk with them about our plans and hear their excitement about the project.
We send Gwen every good wish as we express our condolences to her and the family at this sad and difficult time.
Funeral arrangements will be announced later.
