THURSDAY was judgement day when two inspectors saw Dunstable’s entry in the Anglia In Bloom Competition 2012.
Nolan Mill and Brian Gardner were met at Grove House by the Dunstable In Bloom group and taken round a display of photographs showing what had been achieved in the town.
The judges were accompanied on their tour by John Crawley, Dunstable Town Council’s head of grounds and environmental services, and Hugh Garrod, chairman of Promoting Dunstable.
Having walked through Grove House Gardens, they were driven, by Tony Cootes, around the Woodside Industrial Estate to see the trees and other plants at the roadside.
They then drove through the Katherine Drive area to see some of the front gardens, arriving later at Half Moon Lane. Here they were met by Ester Clarke of the Beds Wildlife Trust and Tony Stachniki of the Blow’s Down Conservation Group, who talked about their work while the group walked across the Downs to Oakwood Avenue.
From there, they were taken to New Woodford Green where Tony Cootes showed his front garden, which won first prize in last year’s competition. Tony spoke about the community group which is working to improve the local gardens and environment.
Next stop was Watling Lower School to see the 50th anniversary garden, sponsored by the National Grid, and to meet the children who had planned and planted it. The judges met other children who had undertaken planting around their play area as well as staff who had helped them. The Watling visit was co-ordinated by Elizabeth Pynn.
At Queensbury School they met Paul Hughes, who showed them the work of students in environmental studies in the area behind the school. The judges helped to plant a commemorative tree.
At Weatherfield School, Mike Hamilton and Nikolla Drury introduced some of the young people who tend the allotments, flower beds and animals in the school’s grounds.
All three schools visited stressed the input of the pupils in planning, implementing and caring for their projects.
A short drive took the party to Geenacres where Elaine Chippendale and Councillor Ann Sparrow showed the work residents had done in the central garden and introduced some of those involved. They were joined by Councillor Angela Barker, chairman of Central Beds Council.
The group then went to Frenchs Avenue where Graham Owen, chairman of the Friends of Frenchs Avenue Neighbourhood Society, showed the tree planting and seed sowing which had taken place in the past year.
The final stop was Priory House where the judges were shown the gardens and told of their historical and environmental importance. They were joined by Councillor Patricia Staples, town mayor, and David Ashlee the town clerk.
At the end of their tour, the judges were taken to a buffet lunch in Priory House, where they were joined by many of the people they had met.
The mayor said she hoped they had enjoyed their time in Dunstable and that they had been impressed by the community spirit. Nolan Mill thanked everyone for their kindness and said that, as this was the first of 13 such visits this year, Dunstable had set the benchmark.
Whether the town has won gold again will not be known until September 11, when representatives of Promoting Dunstable travel to St Ives.
Mr Garrod said: “I would like to thank everyone who helped to make this a most successful event. It showed our town in a very good light and it helped that the sun shone on us nearly all the time.”