Greening Grey Britain – our talented school and community winners

Winners of the 2017 Greening Grey Britain gardening competition and ‘design a poster’ competition have been announced.

The talented winners were awarded their prizes by the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Dorothy Gunther, at a ceremony in Bury Town Hall.

Supported by local businesses, the gardening competition has been running for seven consecutive years to encourage residents, communities and schools to make use of their gardening skills and to help celebrate Bury and Radcliffe in Bloom.

Judging of the gardens was carried out during August by officers from the parks and countryside service.

Entries were judged on:

• Overall design (colour, suitability and quality of plants, upkeep and ‘wow factor’);
• Wildlife (wildlife-friendly plants and features);
• Recycling (compost bins, imaginative/practical use and re-use of materials);
• Sustainability (water conservation/retention, use of permanent planting).

For a discretionary award, all entries were also judged on whether a Greening Grey Britain theme had been incorporated. Greening Grey Britain is a theme owned by RHS Britain in Bloom which is all about transforming hard grey areas into living, planted places that enrich lives.

Best Private Front Garden, sponsored by The Rock, was won by Mr Kevan Eastham of Stainton Road, Radcliffe, while Mike and Christine Hamer of Humber Drive, Bury came second. Joint winners in third place were Mr Iain MacKay from Tottington Road and Mrs Victoria Thomas of Humber Drive, Bury.In joint fourth was Tina and Colin Harrison from Coronation Gardens, Radcliffe and Stephen Cross from Ramsbottom.

Best Street or Community Garden, sponsored by Summerseat Garden Centre, was won by Bolton Road Allotments (Persona), Radcliffe. In second place was the Gingham Park TRA, Radcliffe.

Best Commercial or Retail Display, sponsored by Wickes, was won by Sillett’s Funeral Service of Radcliffe.

Best School Environmental Garden, sponsored by Wickes, was won by Higher Lane Primary School, Whitefield.

The discretionary award for the Greening Grey Britain theme was won by Bolton Road Allotments (Persona), sponsored by Newbank Garden Centre

In the ‘design a poster’ competition, children aged 4 to 16 were invited to explore their creative side and design a poster to promote the RHS Greening Grey Britain theme.

More than 350 entries were received, and designs created by 10 children were selected to be put on display in town centre shops and local parks to help promote this year’s entries in RHS North West in Bloom and Britain in Bloom. Each of the young artists won prizes donated by Tesco and Bury Recycling Team.

The winners were (age at entry): Holly MacKay (10), Grace MacKay (8), Lily May Haydock (7), Jacob Evans (12), Emily Hesford (12), Ella Davey (12), Hafeeza Bibi (7), Alina Bakhat (9), Rayan Ali Syed (11) and Abdullah Tariq (11).

The overall winner of the Design a Poster competition, sponsored by Bury Market, was Rayan Ali Syed who now attends Broad Oak High School.

Councillor Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, said: “Congratulations to everyone who entered this year’s garden and ‘design a poster’ competitions. As always the standard of garden entries was first-rate as was the artistic efforts of our youngsters.

“The posters are always a great asset to our annual ‘in bloom’ campaigns, and the garden competition gives us a great opportunity to reward the hard work of green-fingered residents who continue to do their bit to keep our borough looking great.

“Many thanks also to all the local businesses that supported these competitions by providing the prizes and attending the awards ceremony.”

To get involved with, or to sponsor, Bury or Radcliffe in Bloom phone 0161 253 5266.

ENDS

Press release issued: 16 November 2017.

Picture: The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Dorothy Gunther, presents prizes to the winners of the gardening and poster competitions.