Trish Philpot and I embarked on a day out at Neeld Community and Arts Centre in Chippenham where a South West Britain in Bloom event was being held. Activities included to giving out certificates for the Park Awards for 2018 followed by information on new judging criteria, two guest speakers and an environmental workshop.
Walking from the station, we were struck by how clean Chippenham was, not a cigarette butt or piece of litter to be seen in the shopping arcade. We ended up at the rear of the building where we hovered about a bit before being guided to the rather majestic front of the building
Inside the building has been wonderfully restored. We went to the large hall where we sat down with coffee to watch the Parks Awards being given out, many awards featured bandstands in Parks which Jon Wheatley making introductions said he'd seen being demolished over the years at an astounding rate, so we are lucky still to have ours in the Town Gardens.
The awards were handed out by Mayor of Chippenham, Andy Phillips
Here he is handing over an award:
which was for Blackmore Gardens in Sidmouth, Devon where they created an elephant out of flowers:
They are not without their challenges however as this article in the local paper illustrates.
After the award ceremony, Roger Burnett and Kay Clark from the RHS, outlined judging criteria for this years event. Marks are allocated as follows:
The third category of judging is community and within this category the judges are looking for year round activity and future commitment, communication and awareness and thirdly funding and support.
We know what we have to do, I think we need a checklist of how to go about all this. Meeting to do the gardening is the easy part! Swindon Museum and Art Gallery beds with Rosemary tomorrow morning.
Walking from the station, we were struck by how clean Chippenham was, not a cigarette butt or piece of litter to be seen in the shopping arcade. We ended up at the rear of the building where we hovered about a bit before being guided to the rather majestic front of the building
After the award ceremony, Roger Burnett and Kay Clark from the RHS, outlined judging criteria for this years event. Marks are allocated as follows:
- 40% for horticulture
- 30% for environment
- 30% for community
On the marking sheet, it is possible to see what the judges are looking for when marking each of the three areas. For the horticulture, they are looking at overall impression, maintenance of planted areas, plant selection and plant quality. For environment, they are looking at local identity which would also include signage, natural environment including increasing biodiversity, and thirdly hard surfaces and open grass areas clean street furniture- benches, railings and bins. Here I shudder at the state of the two purple bins and utility box on Victoria Hill by our Mr Cod bed. I think this is potentially the most difficult area for us to improve.This is what it looks like no
I'm hoping I can do a before and after with it in a few months time when improvements have been made. The garden behind the bins looks lovely at the moment.The third category of judging is community and within this category the judges are looking for year round activity and future commitment, communication and awareness and thirdly funding and support.
We know what we have to do, I think we need a checklist of how to go about all this. Meeting to do the gardening is the easy part! Swindon Museum and Art Gallery beds with Rosemary tomorrow morning.
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