The prize-winners, judges and prize givers met together to make the presentations on the 27 October to mark the culmination of the first national, Blind Gardener of the Year Competition.
The ceremony was held on a golden autumn day at the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) oak panelled council chambers in Vincent square, London.
The afternoon was introduced by Tim Spurgeon head of Advisory Services at Thrive, who spoke of the 25-year history of Thrive’s involvement with services to blind gardeners and the development of the Getting on with Gardening project in partnership with Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), funded from the Big Lottery to develop the service nationally.
There were speeches from the judges: Lesley-Anne Alexander (Chief Executive of RNIB), Andrew Colquhoun (RHS Director General) and Bill Simpson (Chair of Thrive’s trustees). They commented on the high standard of the entries and the difficulty in deciding on winners.
Joint winners of the Young Blind Gardener of the Year category Alex Rigby and his friend Alex from Brackenfield School were presented with A Halls glasshouse, a set of Peta Easi-grip tools , a £50 Suttons Seeds trophy and a handcrafted wooden trophy .Exhall Grange School the other winners in this category were unable to attend.
John Hodgson won the ‘New to Gardening’ category and was presented with a Halls glasshouse, a set of Peta tools and a St Dunstan’s trophy. John spoke of how important gardening has become to him and thanked Thrive and RNIB for organising the competition. Leslie Watts, in second place, received cold frame and raised bed kits from Suttons Seeds. Peter Wright won a £50 Suttons Seeds voucher as third prize.
Eric Sayce from St Dunstan’s spoke of the development of the garden there and how gardening had helped to increase the confidence of a particular St Dunstaner. He explained how the wooden trophies had been created by blind ex-service people in the workshops at St Dunstans for the occasion.
Harry Wardle the winner of the ‘Old Hand’ category was unable to attend the ceremony. Eric Crate won £100 donated by St Dunstan’s and invited visits to his garden in Yeovil as he opens it to the public. Nina Phillips came third and received a £50 Suttons Seeds voucher. Nina said “My disability is not an inability and my garden gives me a chance to create something beautiful from living things. Life without my garden is beyond my comprehension.”
Edwina Phillips, a runner up in this category, received £25 from St Dunstans and spoke of her love of gardening and the need for blind people to have challenges like this competition.
Monty Don, the celebrated gardener, author and presenter of Gardeners’ World, was also a judge for the competition but was unable to attend the ceremony but said “It goes without saying that I admire them unreservedly and wish them all every joy with their gardens. In any sense of the expression – they are all winners”.