The winners of Cliftonville in Bloom have been announced by community organisers the Gordon Road Area Street Scheme (GRASS).
Neighbours and businesses showcased their gardening talents with stunning displays and verdant vistas instilling a sense of pride and within the Cliftonville West community.
The judges, GRASS Chair, Simon Bell; Garden Gate Project’s Paul Boyce; Franzi Sordon from Windmill Community Gardens and Confetti Gardens and Kevin Pressland from Thanet council, gave their time for free to assess more than 80 applicants.
Best Community Garden – People’s Vote
Gold – 24% of the public vote – The Oval Flowerbeds / Gordon Road Area Street Scheme (GRASS)
Silver – 18% of the public vote – Ethelbert Crescent Flowerbeds / Friends of Cliftonville Coastline (FOCC)
Bronze – 17% of the public vote – Dalby Square Gardens / Dalby Square Area Residents Association (DSARA),
171 votes were cast by 57 people.
Best Street
Gold – Ethelbert Road
Silver – Grotto Gardens
Bronze – Madeira Road
Best Front Garden
Gold – Jonathan Shears, Flat 4 Cliffside, Fifth Avenue (pictured)
Silver – Jack and Nathan, Flat 2, 55 Godwin Road (joint silver)
Silver – Lesley Brown, 9 Cornwall Gardens (joint silver)
Bronze – Kelly Abbott, Basement Flat, 7 Clarendon Road
Best Container Display
Gold – Vivienne Osbourn, 12 Albion Road (joint gold) pictured above
Gold – Charlotte Woolley, 54 Ethelbert Road (joint gold) pictured below
Silver – Twinkle Troughton, 58 Sweyn Road
Bronze – Harjit Jagpal & Helen Holmes, 63 Harold Road
Best Commercial Display
Gold – Morag Butler, Rosslyn Court, 62 Sweyn Road, pictured above
Silver – Rob Wheeler, 27 Warwick Road
Bronze – Nasza Biedronka, 228 Northdown Road
Best Creative Display
Gold – Jade Spranklen, 45 Gordon Road, pictured
Silver – Sophia Rudkins, Flat 11, 7-13 Norfolk Court
Bronze – P Davis, 15A Clifton Gardens
Criteria
Best Front Garden – The goal for this category is to find the display with the most impact – size is not a factor. The entry is for households only, the garden must be clearly visible from the roadside and most plants must be planted in the ground.
Best Container Display – The winner of this category will have a display with the best use of planters, hanging baskets or window boxes. This is the most appropriate category for those who have limited space and not much ground to plant in.
Best Creative Display – Are you creative? Perhaps you want to build a sculpture and fill it with flowers. Have you got a dilapidated chest of drawers, a wheelbarrow, or even an old kitchen sink? Well why not give your DIY planter some TLC, maybe paint it, or cover it in mosaic tiles, fill it with soil, and get something planted!
Best Commercial Display – The goal for this category is to find a local pub, hotel, restaurant, shop, business, or organisation that is creating a great first impression with a beautiful display outside their premises.
Best Street – The winner of this category will be judged on ALL entries from the above categories. As the saying goes “you’ve got to be in it to win it”! The more people who sign up to individual categories the better chance your street will have of winning. Please note you do not need to enter your street, as all streets are automatically judged based on individual entries.
Best Community Garden – This category is for a community garden that is looked after by residents, it can be a large area, a small area, or simply some flower beds, if it’s cared for by local people, we would love for it to be entered in the competition. For the first time ever, this category was made up from public nominations, and then the gardens were put to an online ‘People’s Vote’. Details of the process can be found here – https://grasscliftonville.org/best-community-garden-peoples-vote
Beautiful displays!