The judge, together with a group from the SIB panel, councillor Toby Griffiths and Dave Smith, senior groundsman, took the following route over a period of approximately two hours.
The group started at the Community Centre, then on to St. Paul’s Court to view the
colourful community gardens, over the millennium bridge to the sundial garden, peace garden and bowling green. Transport took the group to Pukka Pies to view their roses and outside rest area and on to The Queen Victoria to meet Phil and observe his lovely floral displays. They passed onto The Green, pointing out the improvements to the street furniture. SIB panel members had provided new cladding to the raised planters. A visit to the allotments, cemetery and St. Hilda’s Close with its outstanding front gardens was next on the programme.
Next came a trip to Watermead Park to observe the new reed beds and wildlife and wildflower areas. Mel, the judge, seemed most impressed with the developments in this area, but backed away a little at the grass snake produced by one of the rangers from underneath an old garage door. The group finished their tour at The Brook to see the recent improvements and walked back through Town Square for refreshments and a presentation from Penny Brown, SIB panel member, at the Methodist Church Centre. A display that included more photos, posters and paintings, together with the results from the recent schools` competition had been set up and a portfolio was presented to the judge. It all seemed to go very well and now it’s fingers crossed for a pleasing result. SIB panel would like to thank all involved for their contributions.
