‘Vibrant and creative’ Cliftonville in Bloom winners announced

July 11, 2018 Kathy Bailes News 0

Best Community Garden 01 - Dalby Square (1) — Jenny Cranstone and Deborah Holden headed up the Gold winning Children of Dalby Square entry

Children from the Czech and Roma communities in Cliftonville have scooped a top prize for their work in Dalby Square.

The youngsters created beautiful hanging baskets as part of a Royal Wedding project which they then entered for the annual Cliftonville in Bloom competition.

The Bloom event aims to encourage residents to use their horticultural skills to help the environment and improve the appearance of the community. The competition is organised and funded by the GRASS street scheme which is run entirely by volunteers living in Cliftonville.

*Best Garden, Silver winner, Sweyn Road*

Entry to the competition is free with cash prizes awarded to the winners of categories that are intended to appeal to both experienced and novice gardeners.

The Children of Dalby Square took gold for the best community garden category.

Deborah Holden, who is head gardener with the Dalby Square Project working alongside founder Jenny Cranstone, said: “I work on community events and cohesion. We have had several events including for the royal wedding when local kids got involved and created the hanging baskets. They were then hung in the square and entered for Bloom.

“They have lasted, no vandalism, and are blooming beautifully. The kids really have some pride in them because they made them and they come with Jenny and water them regularly.”

This year’s judging panel was made up of Liz Hammocks, The Secret Garden Florist,

Paul Boyce,from The Garden Gate Project, Catherine Froggatt, of Catherine Froggatt Garden Design and Simon Bell, of Cliftonville Townhouse B&B.

Mr Bell, who is also chairperson of GRASS, and organiser of Cliftonville in Bloom 2018, said: “With Thanet’s waste management issues hitting the headlines recently it really is wonderful to see that many residents are taking positive action to improve the Cliftonville.

“Over the last few months we have found the amount of creativity and work that has gone into the competition gardens to be truly inspirational, and we congratulate all entrants on their efforts, you’ve been bloomin’ brilliant!

“Living in Cliftonville is wonderful, and it’s the people and businesses that make it so exciting and vibrant. The energy they have channelled into their gardens is incredible, making Cliftonville more beautiful so that we can all take pride in the place we call home.

“Next year Cliftonville in Bloom is going to be even bigger and better, with more categories and prizes, and we are also planning to expand the competition to include Cliftonville East. We also hope to introduce a companion event called Cliftonville in Colour, which will be an art based project that will appeal to residents who don’t have green fingers!

“So that Cliftonville in Bloom continues to grow we are looking for sponsorship from local businesses for the 2019 competition, if you would like to help please get in touch with us at our website grasscliftonville.org.”