Judgement Day

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The judging of St Anne’s by RHS Judges 2017

The two judges were taken to meet voluntary community groups, organisations and businesses who support us all over St Anne’s On Sea. The judging started at 9.30 and finished at about 4pm and it was paced so that they could talk to the people involved.

It was clear they enjoyed their visit and especially meeting everyone and learning about their contribution to making St Anne’s a great place to be. The contributors were knowledgeable and enthusiastic which I know was appreciated.

We unknowingly gate-crashed two parties on our trip around and happened to meet the FBC Mayor and Mayoress (John Singleton and Geraldine Singleton) at Clifton Hospital at the hospital’s celebration for the opening of their Dementia Friendly Garden. The Ormerod Trust were holding a community Teddy Bears’ Picnic which was also a happy occasion to be momentarily part of. It was wonderful to be made so welcome at these two events.

I am hoping that the judges’ positive response is going to stand us in good stead when the results are revealed at the North West In Bloom Award Ceremony later in the year in November.

Thank you to all our volunteers and supporters for presenting such a good image of our town. Officers from Fylde Borough Council gave us valuable advice and practical help with our judging day. They ensured the route was looking its best too. Thank you for this.

Should you wish to be part of this competition next year either as a contributor or as a volunteer then please use the contact page to let us know.

These are the places and contributors the RHS judges visited:
• Pier Cafe
• Beach Clean Team – Emma Whitlock and volunteers
• Dunes Preservation Group – Kate Owen and volunteers
• Peace and Happiness Garden – Volunteers of St Anne’s in Bloom
• Braxfield Court – Tony Barrow and residents
• Ashton Gardens – FBC Staff and volunteers also SOAG members
• Train Station – Friends of St Anne’s Railway Station
• Crescent Gardens – Friends of Crescent Gardens
• Ormerod Trust – Michelle Riches, Angie and service users
• Hope St Park – Friends of Hope St Park
• Shepherd Rd Allotments – Committee members of Shepherd Rd Allotments
• Royal Lytham St Anne’s Golf Club
• Clifton Hospital’s Dementia Friendly Garden
• Promenade Gardens
• Mini-Golf

Fiona Boismaison
Chair St Anne’s on Sea In Bloom

St Anne’s in Boom in the news again and again and again!

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The St Anne’s carnival was fantastic this year. The sun was shining and everyone was having a great time. St Anne’s in Bloom volunteers took part in the parade with our ‘Carnival’ themed trailer right near the front of the procession.

Two of our volunteers were having so much fun that they were captured on the front page of the local newspaper, the Lytham St Anne’s Express. The newspaper also had a really good spread of photos from the carnival inside and we were featured on there as well.

St Anne’s in Bloom had a stall in Ashton Gardens during the carnival where we sold plants and bug hotels, and had information about various projects that are going on. It was a great way to raise money and also raise awareness of the work that we do around the town.

 

 

With the opening of the Peace and Happiness Garden we found ourselves in the news again, this time with Tracey Dawson and the Mayor of Fylde, John Singleton. There is a mini show garden in place with a piano as the centre piece to tie in with the Les Dawson statue which is located there. Since St. Anne’s in Bloom started reworking the gardens with their own volunteers and also help from Santander staff there has been an increased number of visitors to the gardens.

Tracey Dawson visits the Peace and Happiness Garden

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The latest and most imaginative phase has now been completed over at the Peace and Happiness Garden. This is the garden next to the pier where the statue of one of Britain’s favourite entertainers, Les Dawson, stands. Tracey Dawson who is Les Dawson’s widow visited the garden with St Anne’s in Bloom and was delighted and very impressed with the quality of the display.

The garden has been totally replanted with seaside loving plants providing colourful blooms and fragrance. It also now holds other attractions besides the statue including a piano, which Les Dawson is well known for playing (or not playing well as the case may be). It has been painted to protect it from the elements and Urban Street artist, Seca One Art has produced a beautiful butterfly backboard. The piano has also been planted up and forms part of a wonderful mini show garden, surrounded by many flowering plants; Tracey Dawson was very amused by the fact that we had included “Mother in laws Tongue” in the plant selection as Les Dawson was well known for his jokes on this subject.

This has been a great project for St. Annes on the Sea In Bloom, which saw us raising funds and working with the council and other groups such as Santander Building Society in order to create the garden. It is already grown more popular over its development and it hoped that more visitors and locals will use this garden and find it both amusing and a place that appeals to the senses.

Donate Now

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St Anne’s on Sea In Bloom is fortunate to receive annual grants from the Town council and another from Fylde Borough Council.  We also apply to Fylde Borough Council’s Community Fund when we have a particular need. However, the grants and the fund do not cover the cost of all our projects. This means that we need to ask for funding from local businesses and residents regularly to keep us going. 

This year, we were successful in being given a grant by Tesco Bags of Help Scheme for community gardens. This £8,000 has gone to improve the Peace and Happiness Garden (AKA Les Dawson Garden). We were able to have free stone carving workshops for the community because of this grant. The community art ‘SANDGROWN SANDSTONE’ is now on display in that garden. The stone carving workshops were very popular. The participants, the artist Anthony Lysycia and also Fylde Borough council all suggested the excersise should be repeated in 2018 to improve upon the work. To do that, we will need to raise £2,000. We can ring-fence money for this proposed event.

Please show your support for our work and help us raise funds to add to our display in the town or to have enough to bring back the stone carver. 

How to give money:

If you want to write a cheque for any amount then it needs to be made out to; ST ANNE’S ON THE SEA IN BLOOM, and sent to 6 Dover Rd, St Anne’s On Sea, FY8 3HN

If you wish to send money electronically then please send an email to tonyford19@gmail.com for more information.

If you wish your contribution to go the stone carving workshops then please state that with your contribution.

Fundraising Committee member:

We also have a vacancy on our committee for someone who can push our fundraising. They will need to have imagination and drive and like to organise social events. If you think you would like to know more then contact me via the contact page. Our committee consists of open minded people who are interested in new ideas. 

Fiona Boismaison – Chair, St Anne’s on Sea in Bloom

Stone Carving gets under way

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Today was the first day of the Stone Carving Workshops at the Peace and Happiness Garden (Where the Les Dawson statue is – next to the pier).

There was great atmosphere and everyone was enjoying themselves. The stone carving artist, Anthony Lysycia is not only a talented artist, but he’s really friendly and keen to help people who want to have a go.

If you are interested in seeing what’s going on, or even trying your hand at stone carving yourself, then pop along on Wednesday 21st or Thursday 22nd of June.

Look forward to seeing you there.

The Pier Café gets its new planters

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It’s the time of year when we are starting to get our planters and troughs out.

The staff at the Pier Café were delighted to receive their new troughs this week filled with colourful flowers to brighten the railings and welcome visitors all summer long.

St. Anne’s in Bloom is 100% run by volunteers and we really appreciate the support of local businesses such as the Pier Café making “St. Anne’s on the Sea a better place to be”

Royal Bank of Scotland assist by painting barrels

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We’re banking on you!

Fiona Boismaison with RBS staff Nicola Bradley, Chris Secker and Matthew Cardwell at the Ashton Garden’s Depot.

Three staff from the Royal Bank of Scotland in St. Anne’s swapped their counter positions for a chance to be outside doing something different last week when they set to work painting half-barrel planters for St. Anne’s In Bloom at the Ashton Gardens depot.

The bank staff, who are encouraged to take part in community activities, offered their services after hearing a talk from the St. Anne’s In Bloom Chairman Fiona Boismaison.

Chris Secker Nicola Bradley and Matthew Cardwell make a start on their first task

They stopped counting notes for the day and agreed to slap on the undercoat as St. Anne’s In Bloom volunteers geared up their efforts to provide half-barrel containers and other planters for shops and businesses locally.

Organiser of the painting session Tony Ford said, “Our regular volunteers are at full stretch at the moment with work at the Peace and Happiness Garden and on the Crescent Gardens so we are grateful for the support of RBS employees Chris, Matthew and Nicola with this task, getting so much done in one go has really given us a boost.”

Tony Ford added, “We could have bought these containers ready-filled from an out-of-town nursery but where we can, we prefer to shop locally for all our horticultural materials and supplies. Local businesses support us so we support them at every opportunity.”

The morning’s work finished

Chris  Secker from RBS who arranged for the staff to get involved said “Thank you for the opportunity to join in with the activities, we all enjoyed it and found it worthwhile”.

Once the job was completed the RBS threesome agreed to have two of the barrels they painted placed outside the bank entrance with the promise that the staff would water and look after the plants during the summer months.

Chairman of St. Anne’s In Bloom Fiona Boismaison commented “We are always eager to recruit additional volunteers and the more people we have the better the job we can do in supporting Fylde Borough Council in making the town look ‘blooming great.’

Once the barrels have had their final coat they will be appearing outside the shops and offices who have already signed up.  Anyone interested in having a planter to enhance  the front of their premises is invited to contact Tony Ford tonyford19@gmail.com    07831415482