St Saviour’s strikes gold in Britain in Bloom win

Members of the parish’s floral group were in London on Monday for the national awards at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Hall.

As well as winning its category, the parish also won a gold award and received positive feedback for its engagement with children and young people.

Five members of the floral team attended the awards, along with Floral Guernsey chairman John Woodward.

Team leader Liz Pirouet-Douglas said the announcement came as a big surprise.

‘We can’t really believe it. We were probably aiming for a silver gilt if I’m honest, but we struck gold.

‘When we heard the word “gold”, me and [deputy team leader] Katherine Torode just hugged each other.’

Mr Woodward said he was delighted for the group.

‘They’ve worked so hard and they were up against some tough competition. The large village group has always been very keenly contested. For them to win was a really great result for them as well as for Guernsey.’

Judges June Tainsh and Jon Wheatley toured the parish in early August

St Saviour’s saw off competition from Audlem in Bloom in the north-west, Eynsford in Bloom from the south-east, and Holt Community Gardeners, all of whom were awarded silver gilt.

In congratulating the group on its ‘well-deserved’ gold the judges said that a good development for it would be to start growing edibles as well: ‘You are an imaginative and creative team that we are quite sure would take on this challenge with the same enthusiasm as you have shown for all your activities in St Saviour’s over the last few years.’