Wombourne Gardening Competition Results

Once again Ashwood has been delighted to sponsor Wombourne’s Gardening Competition. This year the categories in the Gardening Competition included Best Kept Front Garden, Best Hanging Basket and (new for 2015) Best Container or group of Containers, with the criteria for all that they had to be visible from the roadside. The competition is a key part of Wombourne’s bid in South Staffordshire’s Best Kept Village Competition.

In late July, Howard Drury, gardening lecturer and journalist, had the difficult job of judging the entrants on behalf of Ashwood Nurseries. The standard was incredibly high this year with some stunningly creative gardens, baskets and containers, all maintained to an exceptional standard. Prizes and certificates were awarded by Julie Lawton, Chairman of Wombourne’s Best Kept Village committee at a special presentation event in the Wombourne Council Chamber on 10th September. It was a most enjoyable evening with Howard explaining his decisions through a fascinating and colourful PowerPoint presentation.

Congratulations to the winners whose hard work and dedication were so evident.

Hanging Basket class
• Winner (prize £25 voucher) Mr. L. Clinton
• Runner-up (prize £15 voucher): Ms. L. Evans for Brunel Court Retirement Village
• Highly Commended (prize £10 voucher) Mrs. Baker

Container or Group of Containers class
• Winner (prize £25 voucher) Ms L. Evans for Brunel Court Retirement Village
• Runner-up (prize £15 voucher) Mr. D. Rowley
• Highly Commended (prize £10 voucher) Mr. J. Stephens

Front Garden class
• Winner (prize £50 voucher) Ms. M. Markham
• Runner-up (prize £15 voucher) Mr. D. Rowley
• Highly Commended Mr. D. Haden

Additionally, everyone’s hard work was rewarded in August when the village achieved the accolade of Best Kept Large Village, beating Kinver (second place) and Brewood (third place). Julie Lawton, Chairman of Wombourne’s Best Kept Village committee, believes that ‘the principal aims of the competition are to encourage community spirit, to stimulate pride in our village and to work together to improve our environment’. Ashwood endorses this view and  hopes that , by sponsoring  the  gardening competition, we will encourage more people to stop thinking of their front garden as simply a parking bay for cars and bins and to see the potential for a  creating a beautiful living landscape.