Floral Gateway competition – winning results announced

Wednesday, August 15 2007

The keenly awaited results of this year’s Floral Gateway Competition were announced at an awards ceremony in Melrose on Tuesday evening.

The competition, which has been running successfully for seven years, consists of four categories split by population size into the following; Town, Large Village, Small Village and Wee Village. Each entry is assessed based on the quality of the floral displays and general quality and standard of cleanliness throughout the town or village, and the level of community involvement from individuals to organisations and schools.

The ceremony was attended by competition entrants, industry representatives and SBC Councillors and employees. This year the judges, some of whom also judge the Beautiful Scotland competition, carefully assessed all 21 entries in their tour of the Borders. Trophies and certificates of excellence were awarded by SBC Councillor Jim Fullarton, Executive Member for Technical Services.

The results were as follows:

Town Class

1^st Peebles 2^nd Kelso 3^rd Hawick

Large Village Class

1^st Melrose 2^nd West Linton 3^rd St Boswells

Small Village Class

1^st Broughton 2^nd Yetholm 3^rd Greenlaw

Wee Village Class

1^st Whitsome 2^nd Morebattle 3^rd Bowden

Jason Hedley, SBC’s Parks Manager, hopes the success of this year’s competition will attract even more entries in 2008. Jason said: “We have been really impressed with the standard of this year’s entries. The competition creates a great opportunity to get people involved in enhancing their local community and the Borders has a lot to be proud of in that respect. We were delighted to see the communities of Crailing, Yetholm and Reston taking part for the first time this year and hope more Border towns and villages will be encouraged to take up the challenge for next year’s competition.”

Callum Hay, Director of Technical Services, said: “This was the first time I’ve been able to attend the ceremony to meet the judges and the participants, and I was bowled over by the quality, commitment and enthusiasm shown by all of them. It was a marvellous celebration of all that’s good about the Borders, and the tremendous pride that local communities have in their towns and villages. I’m delighted that my staff have been able to support and host this competition, which seems to be going from strength to strength. It’s a perfect example of how the Council and local people, working together, can improve the environment for everyone to enjoy”

If you require more information about the Floral Gateway Competition please contact SBC’s Park & Open Spaces team on 01896 661770.

Reference: News-20666, Contact the Author