Cemaes has taken Silver in the 2011 Britain-in-Bloom National Gardening competition organised by the RHS. The Cemaes-in-Bloom team are thrilled to bits and would like to thank everyone for helping to bring about this result.

Although there were not quite so many gardens and containers for this year’s Cemaes-in-Bloom Gardening Competition the standard was very high so it made for difficult decisions for the two judges, Professor Robin and Mrs Helen Grove-White.

The winner of the front garden with the stunning Rainbow of Colours was Pauline Johnston. Ken Foley with his colourful hanging basket front garden came second and Barrie Fitton with the ‘Seaside Garden’ came third.

The winner of the back garden, which is filled with hundreds of colourful plants and strategically placed seating areas, is Pauline Johnston. Second with their neatly bordered garden and raised vegetable plot are Peter and Barbara Rowe. Eric and Val Hughes took third place with their manicured lawns, ponds and colourful flowerbeds.

Dave Boardman’s wheelbarrow filled with petunias won first prize in the container class, with Stephen Cully’s colourful ‘toilet’ coming in second. Lisa Sargeant’s window boxes on the High Street took third place.

In the hanging basket class, Edith Owen got first prize with her basket of same colour polygoniums. Eric and Val Hughes got second prize and Peter and Barbara Rowe got third for their hanging basket that was not filled with petunias!

The Harbour Hotel won Best Business frontage.

Alice Dean has had a special category opened just for her, the best novelty garden.

The President of Anglesey Lions, Ray Jones, and Richard Walton had an even more difficult task when judging the children’s section of ‘Plants in Pants’ It was decided in the end to divide all the entries into three groups, under 8’s, over 8’s and entries with props. Maria Fitton won the over 8’s, with Llio Davies coming second and Cameron Potter in third place. Ella Phillips won the under 8’s group with Nia Culley coming second and Ben Hughes in third place. The entries for the ‘Plants in Pants with props were exceptionally good. Laura Tainton won first, with Michael Jones coming second and Katie Hutchinson in third place. A lovely afternoon was had by all and thank you to all who entered and who helped on the day.

The children in front of their ‘Plants in Pants’:

The time spent on hand weeding the High Street, lugging galloons of water to the boxes and containers, hours on the phone to various council departments to get grass cut, verges trimmed and street furniture painted, not to mention seats and boxes being painted and bins being washed down has finally paid off. Cemaes Bay has won GOLD in the prestigious national Wales-in-Bloom competition. This is not just about flowers but how the whole village works together. John Woods, the Wales-in-Bloom judge was particularly impressed with the Menter y Pentre Shop and how we had made use of an ugly empty shop. He also thought that the allotment site was superb and the recycling of green waste there was an excellent project. He liked the new colourful Woodland sign too.

He said the standard of seasonal flowers throughout the village including the business frontages was excellent.

The school scored highly on his list of praise for their superb portfolio and their experiments with wild flowers and slug repellents in the vegetable plots. The ‘Plant in a Pant’ idea was highly original and amusing, he thought.

Will Hughes, the County Councillor is very proud of the village and its achievements and so should we be.

Jill Griffiths, Chairman of Cemaes in Bloom, said:  " We are delighted with this fantastic result and would like to thank all those in the community who have contributed to our success. "

Now the standard has been set but as John Woods has told us that if we are to maintain this standard we must work within our means and try to recruit more help!

Cemaes in Bloom wait to hear how the village has fared in the Britain in Bloom competition following the judges’ tour of the village on 4th August.

Cemaes-in-Bloom has commissioned, paid for and erected two new colourful signs to welcome visitors into The Woodland. These signs were painted by Keith Martin.
 

The New Year is well under way for Cemaes-in-Bloom. The polytunnel is full of healthy over wintered plants and work is in progress of re-potting and pricking out new plants. Some of the village beds have been replanted as plants were lost due to freezing winter weather. The allotmenteers are busy digging their plots ready to get the vegetables in.

The Christmas quiz this year was won by Malcolm and Margaret Angell.

The official banner naming Cemaes as a finalist in the Britain-in-Bloom competition is hanging on the roundabout railings for all to see. The Cemaes-in-Bloom team have roughly worked out a route to show the judging parts of our lovely village. Time is of the essence so we can’t show them the whole village unfortunately. A copy of the route will be on display on the notice boards shortly and if anyone would like to help with a section to keep it litter, weed and dog poo free we would be very grateful. The judges will be around sometime in August but the Wales-in-Bloom judges will come sometime in mid July so we have to vigilant.

The annual plant sale will be held in the Village Hall on Saturday May14th 10 till 2pm. Refreshments, tombola and raffle available. Admission £1

Pauline Johnston is opening her garden for the RHS yellow book scheme, along with her neighbours Peter and Barbara Rowe on Saturday and Sunday 2^nd and 3^rd July from 11-4. Refreshments will be available.

The annual village gardening competition will take place on Thursday July 14^th with the prize giving on Saturday July 16^th, so start planning your winning displays now. The Anglesey Lions have agreed to sponsor the children’s section for which we are very grateful. The theme this year will be a Plant in a Pant.

So happy gardening everyone.