St Anne’s On The Sea In Bloom received Gold at the RHS North West In Bloom Awards for 2019. This is the fourth year in a row that Gold has been awarded to the town. The In Bloom group also were jointly awarded Best Large Coastal Town Category alongside Southport.

“I am extremely happy with the result” said Fiona Boismaison, Chair of St Anne’s In Bloom. “I know how hard our volunteers have worked over the year, and also the amazing contribution made by the local councils and community groups. It’s great to have all the hard work recognised by the RHS. It is unusual for both towns to be given the top spot. Clearly, the judges couldn’t decide between us”.

The judges also gave the level of “Outstanding” to the Friends of St Anne’s Station and they also won the award for the Best Railway Station in the North West.

“It’s really important that our town creates a lovely welcome to those arriving by train to the town and the Friends have done just that. They have thought about sustainable planting as well as looking after wildlife too.”

‘Outstanding’ was given to both Shepherd Rd Allotment and Blundell Road Allotment and also Poplar Court Residential Home.

Poplar Court also won their category of Best Residential Home in the North West In Bloom entries.  “I know that the Poplar Court residents really care about their surroundings especially as it helps with their well- being and sense of achievement. I always enjoy my visits to the home because I find their enthusiasm for their gardens uplifting”.

The award of “Advancing” was given to St George’s Court Residents who haven’t been in the competition before.

“They have created a beautiful roof garden above Aldi in challenging conditions. Most people say ‘Wow’ when they walk into it”.

“It is really important that praise is given to Tony Barrow and the residents of Braxfield Court too. They have not only won Gold but also their category of Best Large Accommodation for the tenth year. Tony has suggested that it is the last time they will be part of the competition and I’m so pleased they are finishing on a high.

Residents and visitors alike love the garden at Braxfield Court noticing the extremely high standard of gardening that goes on there. Well done Tony and the residents. The award is highly deserved”.

“Residents will not be surprised to learn that Ashton Gardens won Gold in the Small Parks Award and also won their category.

The people who work there have so much to do and I know they honestly care about achieving a high standard in their duties. Adults with learning difficulties from One Fylde also provide volunteering help at the gardens which benefits the staff”

St Annes in Bloom have recently taken over an allotment at Shepherd Road. This is really exciting for us as it means we have more space to work and will be very beneficial as we develop new projects for the future.

In addition to giving us a base to work from it will also enable us to store the trailer safely and under cover.

Whist we cannot have a permanant structure we can, subject to approval, use a temporary cover.

There will also be space for a polytunnel which should enable us to raise our own seeds, cuttings and plants.

The rainwater run off from the polytunnel can be harvested and stored for use on site or for watering planters elsewhere.

The allotment will give our volunteers somewhere under cover to work and provide a meeting point for our working parties throughout the year.

Creating our own compost bins will make our work more sustainable and hopefully reduce our need to ‘buy in’supplies in the future.

The plot does require quite a lot of ground work and a start has already been made in clearing up  and preparing it before the winter sets in.

There are a couple of soft fruit trees and the option to create some raised beds for future use, we have a supply of wood on site which we will re-use for building the beds.

So watch this space and our Facebook page for future updates about the ongoing works.

We welcomed the RHS Judges to St Annes on Tuesday to tour the town and mark all the various projects we have been involved in during the year

It was an early start with the Love My Beach team being first on the list follwed by the Dunes project and on to the Peace and Happiness Garden

At Braxfield Court they are aiming for a tenth successive Gold this year in the Residential category so Tony and the residents have pulled out all the stops again to provide a wonderful display of colour in the gardens

Ashton Gardens was next on the agenda and the judges spoke with FBC staff and volunteers from the Ormerod Trust (Now renamed First Fylde) about their work in the gardens. Members of SOAG were also on hand to discuss the history and heritage of the gardens

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Visits to St George’s Court and Poplar Court Gardens and to St Annes Station followed as these are all entered into their respective categories to be judged

Blundell Road Allotments provided an opportunity for the judges to speak to the town lenghtsman about improvements made during the year

Shepherd Road Allotments very kindly offered use of their excellent facilities for a lunch stop so following a tour of the allotments there was an opportunity to relax for a while and enjoy the sunshine. The judges were very intersted to speak with all our volunteers and hear about why they volunteer and how we had dealt with the recent set backs.

 Soon it was time to move on and see the display of golf bags near Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club and a visit to Shepherd Lodge Nursery Allotment

The tour ended with a visit to Splash! on the promenade along with Friends of Promenade Gardens

A more leisurely stroll along the promenade brought the judges visit to a close and we could all breathe a sigh of relief in the hope it had all gone well

Without our regular volunteers and supporters none of this would be possible so we owe a thank you to each and every one of you who have helped in any way to support our work this year

We won’t know the results until October so it is quite a long wait now but we have plenty of things ongoing to keep us busy until then

St Annes in Bloom Committee 2019 pictured with RHS judges Rus Baguley and Maxine Lord

How does it come around so fast?

Tuesday this week is Judging Day and we will welcome the RHS Judges to St Annes

We have had a very busy few weeks with lots of planting and watering to do

We have grown the succulents this year in the polytunnel and this has not been without it’s hurdles but they are now safely up and on display in the Pece and Happiness Garden

There is no show piano this year as Fylde Borough Council were due to undertake extensive work replacing the grass areas in the garden. However this has now been put back to September so watch this space for next year.

In July we welcomed a group of cyclists from Werne our Twin Town in Germany. They cycled all the way and arrived in time to join in the carnival

Tony had the idea of making some floral bikes to welcome them and he and Christine worked hard with very little time to make this happen

The carnival this year seemed bigger and better than ever and we had our usual plant sale in Ashton Gardens

We had lots of plants donated and welcomed back many of our “regular” customers

This is always a very enjoyable day with the opportunity to speak to so many residents and visitors about what we do and to encourage new volunteers

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please get in touch you will be welcome for whatever skills you can bring to our activities

St Anne’s on the Sea in Bloom are launching this year’s Colourful Welcome award scheme and this year it is set to be bigger and better than ever. With a new category added for retail and service premises to encourage wider participation to add colour to our town this Summer.
If you run a business in St Anne’s on the Sea why not show your customers a colourful welcome by planting your garden, tubs or troughs with plants that provide a vibrant splash of colour and enter the competition?
The catogories are:
1. Guesthouse or Bed and Breakfast
2. Hotel
3. Restaurant
4. Café
5. Public house
6. Retail or service premises
Send your business name and full address of the business property to St Anne’s on the Sea In Bloom via our website, www.stannesinbloom.com

or on our Facebook page by 7 July 2019.

Judging will take place during July and August
Category winners will be announced at our end of season “Thank you do” event in November when certificates will be awarded.
The photographs show some of last year’s entries

St Annes in Bloom hosted a coffee morning on 27th April at the United Reform Church Hall on St Georges Road

This was a much larger venue for the event than last year and we were very pleased to welcome lots of guests

The popular panel of gardening experts were on hand to answer any gardening questions and were kept busy throughout the morning

A representative from Shepherd Road Allotments was also on hand to answer any queries about allotments

Thanks go out to all of our supporters who donated Tombola prizes and we had a very loaded table at the start of the morning but a brisk trade soon meant we had handed out lots of prizes

The plant stall was outside and  despite it being such a blustery cold morning it was also very busy

Thank you to our volunteers who braved the cold to man the stall throughout the morning

Thank you to all who supported this event to make it such a a great success and helping us to raise funds to make St Annes an even better place to be

St Annes in Bloom have been liaising with the resident artist at St Thomas’ Nusery School John Morrow.

He was looking for large peices of wood that he can use with the children to create interesting art projects.
The hollow trunk from the popular that came down recently in Ashton Gardens is going to be used by the larger School in their forest area.
Mick of Fylde Borough Council very kindly delivered the trunk in two peices ready for them to use

We’ll be interested to see what becomes of them

The school already has an amazing outdoor gallery of sculptures made from re-claimed and waste materials here are just a few for you to enjoy

We always like to support school children in getting to know their environment and getting arty with wood is one way to do it