Silver gilt for Stone in sparkling national success

Stone has won a silver gilt award at this year’s Britain in Bloom finals, the second highest award possible – an amazing achievement in the town’s first entry in the national championships.

Stone won the silver gilt award in the large town category. Matt Baker, presenter of the BBC’s The One Show, presented the awards at a ceremony at St Peter Port in Guernsey – and members of Stone in Bloom were there to receive their award.

As well as the silver gilt, Stone in Bloom also won the Britain in Bloom young people’s award for their work with schoolchildren across the town, and were also nominated for the Royal Horticultural Society community award.

Earlier this year Stone won gold for the fifth year running in the Heart of England in Bloom competition and represented the region in the national championship. The theme of this year’s Britain in Bloom competition was wildflowers, and Stone in Bloom certainly captured this, with beautiful wildflower meadows created across the town.

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Jill Hood, Stone in Bloom secretary, said: “The eight of us who decided to go to Guernsey at our own expense are all thrilled that we attended this very prestigious event. This is our biggest and best achievement yet. It means so much to everyone and is a huge boost for our group and the many volunteers who work so hard all year round improving the beauty of the town.  We’re so proud of the stunning results from the six areas of wildflowers we sowed and, with so many compliments, we’ll be doing it again next year!”

Jill said the group was also over the moon to have been awarded the discretionary RHS Britain in Bloom Young People’s Award for their work with so many groups of children in Stone. The Britain in Bloom judges said that in the eight years they had been judging they had never seen a group who got it so right with their community involvement.

Jill added: “This fabulous award sends out a message to everyone – Stone is the place to visit. Britain in Bloom says so. Getting through to the RHS Britain in Bloom finals was more than we could have hoped for and was a fantastic honour for our town. I’m so proud of the achievements and efforts of the many individuals and community groups we rely on, who help us to improve the beauty of our town. We entered the Britain in Bloom competition, not just to win, but to strengthen an already strong community spirit and ensure a cleaner and greener environment for our town.”

Judges made glowing reference to the involvement of so many community groups and said it was the first time in eight years that they had been unable to give any comments on how to achieve community participation as Stone had done it so well.

Well done to all the volunteers for their amazing efforts and richly deserved rewards this year! You can find out lots more about Stone in Bloom and get involved at www.stoneinbloom.com