It’s blooming great despite all the rain (From Worcester News)

It’s blooming great despite all the rain

10:10pm Wednesday 12th September 2012 in News

PEOPLE defied the weather as they produced dazzling displays for a contest organised by Malvern in Bloom.

The group’s annual residents competition was a big success, despite much of the summer being a washout, with lots of entries and high standards across the board giving the judges some very difficult decisions to make.

People could enter their gardens and hanging baskets into any of six categories, and judges were kept busy for a full day visiting all the entrants and inspecting the results of their hard work.

Maggie Williams, one of the organisers, said: “We were so impressed by how lovely every garden looked and we fully appreciated how hard everyone had worked. In fact, choosing the winners was a very difficult task.”

Fellow organiser Cynthia Palmer added: “The competition was a remarkable success considering the too dry, then too wet and often cold weather that the gardeners had to contend with.”

Judges were so impressed with the entries that, as well as naming category winners, they also handed out eight special “highly commended” certificates. They also picked out an overall winner, Pam Cubberley, of Watkins Way, whose hanging baskets and tubs were described as “absolutely fabulous”.

Mrs Cubberley, aged 66, looks after the garden with her the help of her husband Don, who she puts to good use “doing all the heavy lifting”. She was delighted to find out she had won the competition, after finishing as runner-up a couple of years ago. “It was a lovely surprise and I had to let it sink in for a few minutes when I got the phone call,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all, with the weather this year making things so difficult.”

All the winners have been invited to the Malvern Town Council chamber, in Belle Vue Terrace, for a presentation ceremony tonight. Organisers have thanked Malvern Town Council and the competition’s sponsors for their support.