Blind Gardener of the Year 2010 - Champion of Champions

Gardener Jeremy Scott from Uckfield, East Sussex has been named Thrive and RNIB’s Blind Gardener of the Year, 'Champion of Champions’.

The 37 year-old was named Blind Gardener of the Year in 2009 and his inspiring work at his garden has once again wowed the judges and earned him the coveted title of 'Champion of Champions’.

Jeremy was registered blind seven years ago due to diabetic retinopathy and had to give up full time work. As well as having had a kidney and part of his bowel removed due to cancer, he has neuropathy in his hands and feet. Despite all this, Jeremy remains a keen and enthusiastic gardener.

Having become interested in lifestyle programmes such as River Cottage, and now faced with the need to occupy his time, Jeremy began clearing an area of brambles at his parents’ house and started to grow vegetables.

After the first successful year, Jeremy’s confidence grew and he was inspired to work on other areas in gardening and started to concentrate on his own garden.
He now produces a wide range of organic seasonal fruit and vegetables for himself, friends and family and his garden has colourful and fragrant plants and looks pretty.

Jeremy says gardening has changed his life in many ways. He thinks about the environment and food in a different way and he puts his limited energy into his garden which proves a positive focus.

"Gardening makes me happy and I am lucky I can share it with my family and partner," said Jeremy.

"I have made a lot of new friends through gardening and have joined my local allotment society where I am also on the committee. I am also a member of a local horticultural society. This keeps me very busy!"

On being named 'Champion of Champions’ Jeremy said: "I could not believe it when I won Blind Gardener of the Year, so to win this is amazing. I feel I’ve really achieved something. To get recognised in this way is such a nice feeling.

"I don’t actually think I would have got involved in gardening in such a way if I hadn’t lost my sight. But gardening, when I am well enough to do so, has swallowed me up and I talk about it to everyone and anyone!

"I started all those years ago with a plot three metre square, now I look after the size of a tennis court at my parents’ house, my own garden and an allotment.

"I often doubt my own ability but now I can remind myself on how well I did which gives me great encouragement," said Jeremy, who never rests on his laurels.

"I like to experiment with vegetables. This year I’ve grown black cherry tomatoes and purple carrots – the old Victorian varieties. I even attempted a water melon and next year I’m going to try a pineapple."

And of course every gardener needs an ambition. Jeremy said: "After visiting Hampton Court Flower Show this year my ultimate aim has to be getting involved in show gardens."
Wendy Chamberlain, Manager of the Blind Gardening Project at Thrive, said: "Jeremy is a worthy winner. He is inspirational not just to blind people, but also to people with other disabilities because he is coping with additional health problems."

The Thrive and RNIB’s Blind Gardener of the Year competitions were held as part of the Big Lottery funded National Blind Gardeners’ Club, which have been a huge success over the last seven years. Held in recognition of the skills of blind or partially-sighted gardeners, the standard of entries has amazed and acted as inspiration to hundreds of other gardeners who have sight loss.

With funding from the Big Lottery now coming to an end there remains a legacy for all blind and partially sighted people throughout the UK in the form of clubs and societies, a comprehensive range of publications and CD’s. A wealth of information, help and advice continue to be available from Thrive and RNIB.

Thrive, together with RNIB, have developed new resources which will continue to benefit visually impaired gardeners in the longer-term as well as enabling visually impaired people to garden more easily through better access to facilities and support.

Wendy added: "The Big Lottery funding has made a difference to visually impaired people not only in terms of improving their ability to garden, but also in terms of improving their health and quality of life."