Sandy Simpson: Much loved gardening guru and Falkirk Herald columnist dies aged 86

Alexander – better known as Sandy – Simpson MBE passed away peacefully at Forth Valley Royal Hosptial on April 24.

A loving husband to wife Ailsa, a proud member of Polmont Horticultural Society and a much respected friend to many, Sandy was also a prolific writer and his Sandy’s Garden columns on gardening – and anything else that happened to tickle his fancy, annoy him or intrigue him – made for great reading in pages of The Falkirk Herald right up until 2022.

The Polmont man, like so many others, was impacted by COVID-19 and, in the same year of 2020, had a serious heart attack.

Like most of the other events in his life, Sandy wrote about his experience and it was funny, touching and a written testament to the kind of man he was.

His humility and sense of humour always burst out from his paragraphs like a sunflower in bloom and you could be sure he would plough through all pretension.

Back in December 2020, he wrote: “In simple, old-fashioned language, I have had a serious heart attack. Two weeks ago, returning to our back door after placing some rubbish in a waste bin a gust of wind literally took my breath away.

“I had been having breathing problems throughout the summer and autumn and was attending an out-patients’ clinic in the Cardiology Department of the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert.

“The shock of suddenly being unable to draw breath is an experience I would not wish on anyone."

Sandy was rushed to intensive care and cannot recall much of what followed.

However, he is sure of one thing – the staff saved his life that day.

He said: “What is crystal clear in my mind is I was very well cared for. The entire alphabet of staff, from Alec to Zoe, who stuck needles into me to ascertain what was going on in there.

“Everyone was kindness personified, doing everything in their power to aid my recovery, a process which required 12 days of intensive care before I was judged well enough to be allowed home.

“I must take better care of my heart than I have done in the past. I owe it to myself and to a lot of people who rescued me.”

Sandy’s funeral will take place at Falkirk Crematorium, in Camelon Cemetery at 10am on Tuesday, May 7, with a reception afterwards at the Inchyra Grange Hotel.

Ironically, for the man The Falkirk Herald regularly dubbed the “gardening guru”, it has been requested no flowers should be brought to his funeral.

Instead there will be a retiral offering for those wishing to donate to aid Ward A12 at Forth Valley Royal Hospital – another sign of Sandy’s kindness and generosity and his high regard for the medical staff at the hospital.