Awards Presented To Celebrate Borough’s Blooming Great Gardeners

Published on: 19 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 20 Sep, 2018

Green fingered creativity was celebrated through the theme of ‘peace’ to mark the centenary of the First World War at the annual Guildford in Bloom awards.

The Guildford in Bloom awards was held on Wednesday, September 12, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. Picture by Alistair Wilson.

The Mayor of Guildford, Mike Parsons, presented more than 178 awards and six trophies at the event held at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Audiences and winners were treated to a show-stopping opening from the Guildford Shakespeare Company while BBC Radio Surrey’s Joe Talbot hosted the event.

The leader of Guildford Borough Council and chairman of Guildford in Bloom, Cllr Paul Spooner said: “As always we were very impressed with the high standard of innovation from our communities. This was shown across all groups and we were thrilled to welcome 35 new entries.

“This year was particularly special as we launched a new category to encourage young people into thinking about and understanding their own gardens. The Student Garden Showcase was won by Ben Harbour and the University of Surrey Student Garden Team.

“With overall competition winners Best in Show award going to Lisa Keech and the Robin Hood pub, I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and dedication and to our premium sponsors Chapters Financial and Allianz, for making this such a wonderful event for our borough.”

Student Garden Showcase garden by Ben Harbour and the University of Surrey Student Garden Team.

Ben Harbour, currently studying business management at the University of Surrey, designed the first Guildford in Bloom student garden. He said: “Through this project we hoped to show that students really do care about their homes, gardens and the communities they live in.”

The Robin Hood pub’s display.

There were 104 entries in the Best Allotment / Kitchen Garden category, 13 bold and beautiful Front Garden entries, Wildlife Gardening is now a firm favourite with 12 entries, nine Best Pub in Bloom entries, 13 Best Neighbourhood Project entries and our new perpetual trophy is for the Best Container Garden with 12 entries.