There are a lot of photos this week and the busy week unfortunately coincides with my Tuesday out in Cheltenham week, so I hope I have not made too many errors or omissions. All in all it has been an enjoyable week with a surprising amount going on. I became a year older on Sunday, July 93rd (I'm a summer person) and so did my daughter, Sarah - who spent the weekend in Blackpool 'seeing the lights'. Happy Birthday, Sarah! - tempus has certainly fugited over the past 16 years!

As there are a lot of photos, I have had to spread them as easily as possible over six pages, so page number has no bearing on the importance rating of any one article. (This is always the case but I thought I would just mention it again.)

Ross-in-Bloom held their Annual Presentation of Awards Evening on Sunday at the very kind invitation of the Phoenix Theatre. The theatre was filled with Gold Winners, Judges, Sponsors and members of Ross-in-Bloom. Sue Holland the Chairman of Herefordshire in Bloom, together with Margaret Lucas, Ross-in-Bloom Chairman, presented the cups and trophies. Some of the awards were presented by the sponsors themselves.

The evening went extremely well, with many of the winners actually knowing what they were there for. However there were also quite a few surprises. Margaret Lucas welcomed everyone as they arrived encouraging them to relax with a drink from the bar.

Continued . . .

The presentation itself started with Mary Powell, judging co-ordinator, explaining how the decisions on the winners had been made and introducing the winners to their judges. Every street and therefore every front garden is looked at initially to short list. The judges then go round each area assessing the displays and giving marks as they feel fit.

This year had seen some extremes of weather condition but this had all been taken into consideration. The quality of the gardens was again very high and there were some lovely displays using the town colours of 'all the oranges, blues and yellows'.

Next years colours will be Red White and Blue to mark the 50th anniversary of the Queen's visit to Ross in April 1957. It is hoped to enter the Heart of England in Bloom Campaign next year if enough volunteers can be found to organize the visit - preparation for which starts now. The Annual General Meeting will be taking place at the Heritage Centre on Wednesday 8th November at 7pm. Anyone who wishes to offer help for the coming year is invited to attend or to send in information on what they are able to do before then.

Continued . . .

The main prize winners presented with awards this year were:
Gold Front Gardens: 53 Three Crosses Road (Safeway's Cup); 64 Verschoyle Gardens (Round Table Cup); 8 Prospect Terrace (Premier Plants Cup); 18 Berkeley Close (Pauline di Palma Cup); 11 North Road (Jacqui Danter Cup); 28 Blake Avenue (Golf Club Cup); 50 Purland (Hotel & Caterers Cup); 2 Redhill Road (Midland Bank Cup); 11 Vectis Close & 41 Bernard Hackett Court (Joint - Tealpack Cup); Rustics Third Avenue (Ross-in-Bloom Cup); Berwyn, Hildersley (Shawcross Cup); Honeysuckle Cottage Crofts Lane (Margaret Lucas Cup). The Wyevale Cup for the Overall Best Front garden was presented to Angie Lukas of Berwyn Hildersley.

Other major award winners were: Commercial - Mill House (Lloyds Bank Shield); Hotel Restaurant or Public House - Royal Hotel (Barclays Bank Shield); Private Guest House - White House (Mary Dew Spoon). Two Honorary Gold Awards went to the White Lion at Wilton and the Travellers Rest. Both these showed outstanding floral displays to enhance the entrances to the town but unfortunately do not fall within the remit of Ross Town and are therefore unable to qualify for entry into the competitions. Each received a certificate to display on their premises.

In the Retired/Disabled Competitions the Gold awards went to:
Community Garden - Ross Court (Mary Dew Shield); Individual Gardener - Mr & Mrs Hull, Mrs Littleford and Mrs Bevan of Bernard Hackett Court (Joint - Lyn Tomlinson Award). These three small gardens join each other and could not be separated for quality.

Continued . . .

Other awards, some of which were kept a secret to all until the evening, were:
Best Secret Garden (Private Gardens with Public Access) - John Kyrle Retirement Club in Pigs Alley (Mike & Maureen Jennings Salver).
Conservation - The Garden of Remembrance (David Christopher Award). Best Street - Nursery Road Community Gardens (H E Phillips Award). Best Traders Window - Sirius (Leadership Trophy). Best Charity Window - Barnardos (Powell Rose Bowl).

As in previous years Community Spirit Awards were presented to those who had given help and service to the town as well as to Ross-in-Bloom this year. Judges awards: Terry Harding; John Malsom; Jean Adams; Julia Richardson; Val & Tony Allen; Helena Constance; Teresa McCloskey; John & Jean Jenkins; Anne Wadeley; Ann Bevan; Peggy Luker; Margaret Lucas; Sue Parker; Lyn Tomlinson; Judith Wilkins; Pauline Williams; Sally Sandford; Maureen Jennings; Gillian Gange; Maureen Tweed; Trevor Pugsley. Sponsor either in goods or in kind: The Garden Store; Gail Lucas & the Gardening Club; Wyenot.com; Ross Gazette; Ross Journal; Ross Pre-School Playgroup; Ross Chamber of Commerce; Phoenix Theatre; Friends Meeting House; Lucas Motorcycles Staff; Ross Heritage Centre Staff; Andrew Middlecote & Street Scene (Herefordshire Council); H E Phillips; Colemans; Ross Town Council; Ross Carnival; Priory Coffee House; Ross Library; Halcyon Daze; E * I Williams; Grandma Peggy's; Neat & Cheap; Golden Crust. For general help and hard work behind the scenes: Rose Dean; Rita Haggett; Iris Price; Jo Ashman; Paul Leighton; Ross Police. John Kyrle Art department and 15 students who took part in the Ross-in-Bloom Exhibition in July also received Community Spirit Awards. The students were: Hannah Isle; Bryony Collins; Emma Fulford; Rhys Partridge; Philip Shaw; Ben Diamond; Alice Hurley; Emily James; Sara Foster; Tom Stephens; Jason Randall; Alison Ireland; Emma Foster; Zena Ruck; Maria Taylor.

Continued . . .

Most of the Community Spirit Awards had been sent out previously. The final award of the evening is always the best kept secret of them all - The Halcyon Daze Award for Outstanding Community Spirit. Every year this has been presented to the person who has given most to the town in the way of an unsung hero. This years was no exception.

Alan Wood has been running Wyenot.com from his own home for many years. It is one of the best websites centred on Ross and the surrounding area. Not an event goes by without Alan and his camera being seen gathering information and material to update his news pages every week. Alan's photographs are also often used in the Ross Gazette and the Ross Journal. Alan gives this major service to the town quite often without words of thanks or acknowledgement and Jo Ashman, who sponsors the award, decided it was about time his work promoting Ross was recognized.

Presenting the Award on Jo's behalf, Lyn Tomlinson thanked him for all his very hard work and loyalty to the town - all agreeing this award being long overdue for one of the town's most popular unsung heroes.

Continued . . .

The evening closed with thank you presentations of flowers to Sue Holland, Margaret Lucas (who had also celebrated her birthday last week), Jo Ashman (who is also shortly to retire) and Lyn Tomlinson (who was also celebrating a milestone birthday the following day). As it was also Alan's birthday on Presentation Day he was presented with a bottle of whiskey.

Sue Parker, who had helped to organize most of the evening was presented with a bottle of wine. The Mayor of Ross, Cllr Phil Cutter, told everyone that the work and commitment of Ross-in-Bloom and all present for the evening are exactly the volunteers that he was talking about at his Mayor Making in May. Volunteer work such as this embodies the true spirit of Ross and he and the council really appreciated all the hard work put in by volunteer organizations as well as individuals. He closed by congratulating everyone on their achievements and thanking Ross-in-Bloom for a wonderful evening.

Mary Powell, who had been in charge of the running for the evening, congratulated everyone again and wished them a safe journey home and good gardening for next year. Ross-in-Bloom is self-supporting for all events and a raffle during the evening raised enough funds to pay for the hire of the theatre.

A wonderful evening was rounded off with a surprise birthday party for Lyn with other invited guests including family and friends, some of whom were colleagues from other County in Blooms.

The final lists of results for Containers with Commercial placings etc. will be printed next week. All garden certificates were sent out by post in August. Any omissions are purely unintentional.

Thank you very much to all who are involved with Ross in Bloom and to Halcyon Daze for awarding me with the 'Overall Community Spirit Award' and the 'Halcyon Daze Award' at Sunday evening's Ross in Bloom Award Presentations at the Phoenix Theatre!

The award came as a complete and utter surprise and I had gone along to the presentations (so I thought) to take photos of those who deserve awards far more than I do, for having nice gardens. At nice gardens, I fail miserably!

Had I known in advance that I was to be awarded myself, I would have put on some trousers, instead of going scruffy, in shorts, an old jumper and walking boots. Still, the shorts made for some good jokes on the evening. I would like to say that the nasty scratches on the back of my left leg were inflicted while photographing the local Black Panther or something else equally exotic (being self inflicted by another kind of cat - of nine tails, having joined 'Opus Dai' would have been a good one) but sadly it was nothing quite so exotic. They were inflicted by a bramble bush whilst trying to strim my way to get to my office which is fast becoming overgrown by, shall we say, 'natural vegetation'. My own premises is certainly not a good advertisement for Ross in Bloom!

A sincere thank you to everybody involved with Ross in Bloom. It is you and the many other community spirited people and groups who make the town of Ross-on-Wye what it is today - a fantastic place both to live in or to visit. I only show what you have done!

Alan

The Friends of Ashfield Park have organised a family event at Ashfield Park Primary School on October 6th. We have invited Flix in the Stix to show the film 'Iceage' commencing at 6.00pm with the doors opening a 5.45pm. Tickets are available from the school office on a first come, first served basis and are £2.50 per head or £9.00 for a family group of four people. (We ask for an adult per group of children, please.) The price includes a drink and sweets or popcorn.

This is the first time we have used the services of Flix in the Stix but hope it will not be the last. We are planning for this to be a repeatable family event for all the community. We look forward to seeing many children and families coming along and enjoying a film just for them.

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