By Monica Chard
We have always championed the Spelthorne in Bloom initiative. Gardens give so much pleasure, brighten our borough and the bene-fits all round for mental health and well being is well documented.
Our Sunbury champion has long been Leslie Grimes whose hanging baskets in his front garden in Manor Lane are something to be-hold. He ‘retired’ from competition a couple of years ago, but couldn’t resist when he was invited to take part again this year.
Drum roll…..
Although he didn’t win first place this year, Leslie came 2nd in the Best Kept Front Gar-den category and 3rd in Best Container/Hanging Basket (photo top right). Congratulations! The Best Front Garden cate-gory had been sponsored by Zandra Ceaser. With her passing only a couple of months ago, daughter Ally and best friend Dot pre-sented the award in her honour (see above).
The Flower Pot in Sunbury got a well de-served Highly Commended in the Best Small Pubs category. Their baskets have looked splendid all year.
Finally allotment 33B in Groveley Road won 2nd in the Best Kept Allotment category.
As to Shepperton….they had oodles of suc-cess this year. It just shows, you have to be in it to win it!
Last year Covid put paid to many of the usual entries, with only 70 received, no award cere-mony and little fanfare. In contrast this year the committee considered nearly 170 entries and winners were celebrated at Notcutts Gar-den Centre. The discovery of the joys of gar-dening and growing has clearly translated to pride in our gardens and the wish to share the beauty.
The Chairman of the Spelthorne in Bloom Committee, Nick Wood-Dow, said “We were delighted to receive so many beautiful and imaginative entries this year. These wonderful gardens, displays, memorials and allotments brighten our environment and simply make the borough a better place to live. Thank you to everyone who took part, and also the vol-unteers and sponsors without whom the com-petition could not take place.”
Spelthorne in Bloom opens again in spring 2022. The organisers are looking for new members to join the Spelthorne in Bloom Committee so if you are interested in helping to judge entries for this annual competition and encouraging others to brighten up the borough, they would love to hear from you. They would particularly love to have repre-sentation from Sunbury.
More sponsors are also needed, so please get in touch if you are looking for a great way to promote your company whilst supporting a much-loved community initiative.
Please contact Vanessa Surmon for more in-formation by email at Spelthorne.inbloom@spelthorne.gov.uk or call 01784 444288.