South East in bloom judges tour Bexhill

A tour of the town, from brilliantly blooming flower beds to well attended allotments, showed the extent of community involvement in the competition.

Ray Waite and Shielah Maclaren-Pugh both have extensive horticultural roots and so were well placed to judge the variety of gardens and displays around Bexhill.

Rother District Council was congratulated on its 'planting by numbers' system: an attractive way of incorporating logos, words and pictures into gardens.

The Bexhill In Bloom flower bed on the seafront uses this system to celebrate ten years in the competition, with 1993-2003 spelt out in pinky-grey echeveria. Rother's Brian Griffiths was responsible for getting this display organised, as well as helping the schools with their crest flower beds in Town Hall Square.

The Youth Challenge was developed with schools liaison officer for Bexhill in Bloom, Gill Hamilton. Each of the 11 primary schools across Bexhill drew its crest for Brian to make plantable.

This was made possible by using the computer and working with John O'Connor contractors.

The results can be voted on, and the winning school will be awarded the Gerry Waters Crest Cup. St Mary Magdalene's School used this as part of its environment project.

Pupils made their own crest flower bed at the school, grew plants to sell at the summer fete and learnt about flowers.

An extension of this was a composting programme, linked to a healthy eating initiative. Each class competed to see how many fruit snacks their class brought in on a daily basis. The highest scoring class at the end of the week was awarded. Cores and banana skins were then added to the compost heap.

The 73A Centre in London Road was a highly colourful display of hanging baskets and climbers, with benches and murals making the garden something special.

Judges will now compare Bexhill to other areas, as the town's gardeners hold their breath to see if they can scoop a prize in the large town category.

Last year, Bexhill got a third under this heading. Ray said: "I think we have been very impressed, particularly with the bedding and the residential front gardens, both in content and maintenance.

"We were both particularly interested in the Manor Gardens and St Mary Magdalene's School. I was very favourably impressed. I thought I knew Bexhill but today has opened my eyes."

Sheilah said: "We were very impressed with the efforts of everybody - the community, the local authority and the total look of Bexhill.

"It is an all round community effort."

Chairman of Bexhill in Bloom Sandra Melvin said: "I am delighted that the weather stayed fine.

"It was a fantastic day to take our judges round and there were some magnificent displays."