St Saviour’s is judged first
JUDGING for the Floral Guernsey competition got under way yesterday, with St Saviour’s parish first up.
Judge Rae Beckwith was back in the island from Newcastle to judge various areas around the island, accompanied by local judge Jax Robin.
‘There are three main elements we are looking at – horticulture which has 40 points allocated, and environment and community which are both worth 30 points,’ he said.
‘There are various levels within that 100 points which dictate which medal will be awarded.’
The tour of St Saviour’s included locations such as Bruce Russell’s, the field opposite the Auberge du Val, the Sunday club at St Saviour’s Church, Ste Apolline’s Chapel, and the parish community centre.
‘As a volunteer team, the community centre is all ours with a lot of help from community service as well. They are amazing to us, they come on a weekly basis and adore being here, they really are the lynch-pin of anything we get awarded today,’ said Liz Pirouet-Douglas, from Floral St Saviour’s.
‘We have six key volunteers who spend at least a couple of hours a week working all throughout the year.
‘One of our key features today is we have a beautiful church bug house, made by the charity Creative Learning in Prison, which the Rev. Mark Charmley and the Sunday Club are very proud of.’
The group plants thousands of bulbs across the island each year.
Last year St Saviour’s won the gold award for the best large village in the UK, and will be having a celebration on 26 July as a thank you to everyone involved.
‘Ahead of judging we call it our final push and polish, because if we don’t keep on top of it as we go it can get pretty tricky,’ said Mrs Pirouet-Douglas.
‘I always say to everyone let’s not get stressed about it, because we’re doing it for the community, but the competition is our driving goal and gives us something to work towards. We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it.’
