Blooming marvellous gardeners celebrated

Published: 15 September 2023

Gillian Jenkins, Alison Sullivan, the Mayor of Hythe and Elaine Cox pose for a photo at the garden competition awards ceremony

Green-fingered council tenants and leaseholders in Folkestone & Hythe have been recognised for their colourful efforts at an annual gardening competition.

The event is run and managed by Strategic Tenant Advisory Panel (STAP) members Gillian Jenkins and Sharon Gasson, both of whom also judge the event.

The wonderful green spaces submitted by F&HDC tenants and leaseholders were visited in July. Judges were seriously impressed by the standard of entries, with multiple winners recognised in the ‘best front and back garden’ category as the quality of entries was so high.

The awards ceremony for the competition was held at Hythe Sports Pavilion hosted by Elaine Cox, Chair of STAP, with sponsors Mears, Swale Heating, Folkestone Mobility, Grovewell Garden Centres, BigJigs Toys, the council’s grounds maintenance team, and Cllr David Godfrey all donating prizes. The Mayor of Hythe was also on hand to present the awards.

Cllr Rebecca Shoob, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness, said: “I’d like to thank all tenants who took the time to enter this year’s garden competition. It is fantastic to see the green spaces that have thrived under our tenants’ care.”

“A big congratulations to all of our winners, the dedication and pride our tenants have taken in their gardens is wonderful to see and I am glad that we were able to recognise their efforts at the awards ceremony this year.” 

The winners and runners-up were:

Junior gardener:

Hugo Clark (aged 3)

Best vegetable patch:

Bradfoord Court

Best communal garden:

Winner

Alexandra Court

Runner-up

Middleburg House

Best container pots and baskets:

Winner

Josephine Harris

Runner-up

Mr & Mrs Plummer

Best back garden:

Winner

Alison Sullivan

Runner-up

Linda Barr

Best front garden:

Winner

Caroline Groombridge

Runner-up

Florence Dray

Best front & back garden:

Winners

Stephen Baillie

Dawn Allsop

Derek Hughes 

Keren Belcourt Rose:

Winner

Alexandra Court

Sue Willsher Cup:

Winners

Josephine Harris and Alison Sullivan

For more information about the competition visit our website.