Finally, we are delighted to announce the winners of The Best Southmead Sunflower competition. Results have been delayed due to volunteer illness and we’re really sorry about that, but the prize-winners have now been contacted and so, without further ado, we want to say massive congratulations to our winners below.
Oliver Robertson (WINNER Child Category)
Oliver is 9 years old and attends Little Mead Primary Academy. He continued to go to school throughout the first lockdown because his parents are keyworkers.
Little Mead was one of the schools to take up our offer for free sunflower seedlings supplied by community groups BS10 Parks & Planning and Sustainable Southmead. Oliver told us:
“My class were all given a sunflower seed which we germinated in school and then got to bring home. I put it in my garden and then put it in a bigger pot when it started to grow. I have been watering it every day.
“We loved growing the sunflower so much my mum and me have started growing vegetables. We have tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes, runner beans and a pumpkin growing”.
How impressive, well done Oliver. We hope you will continue to grow flowers and vegetables next season. To encourage you, your prize is a £25 gardening voucher, plus a £25 voucher for a shop of your choice – we have heard you would like that to be Smyths Toys so you can nurture your love of Lego alongside your love of gardening. Again, congratulations Oliver, and how about building a Lego garden?
Richard Edwards (WINNER Adult Category)
Rich grew his sunflowers from seed with help from his three year old daughter who goes to Fonthill School nursery. He told us:
“I saw the article and as I had already planted lots of veg thought some sunflowers would bring the pollinators in.
“I’ll definitely grow again next year, this year I have harvested carrots, broccoli, kohlrabi, beetroot and plums from my garden.
“I hope this inspires others to grow your own because it’s a rewarding and fulfilling experience”.
The Mead would like to thank Fonthill School for putting copies of The Mead in book-bags because it is a great way to get community information to families, and especially to older adults who may not be online.
Congratulations again to Rich on winning a £25 gardening voucher, as well as a £25 voucher for the shop of his choice.
On hearing the news Rich said, “Wow I cannot believe we won! My daughter will be so pleased [. . .] With regards to the prize could I ask you to donate the gardening voucher to Fonthill Primary School nursery class so my daughter and her class can do gardening at school [ . . . ] the other prize could it be for a supermarket, it will help with the Xmas groceries. Thank you again”.
Rich, that’s really generous, we’ll make sure Fonthill receives the gardening voucher.
Patricia Scott (WINNER School Category)
Pat is the Learning Mentor at Little Mead Primary Academy and also runs the school Eco Team. She told us, “I saw the article for sunflowers – what a brilliant idea to focus our young minds during such an anxious time”.
Pat encouraged and inspired Little Mead pupils to nurture their seedlings. Of the many seedlings donated to the school Pat was able to grow a couple herself to join in.
Congratulations to Pat on winning £50 worth of gardening vouchers for the school Eco Team – we hope it helps to buy any bits and bobs needed for growing next year. And thank you Pat for being such a great gardening inspiration to your pupils.
On hearing of the win, Pat said, “Wow! Thank you so much – I am so excited [. . .] I can’t wait to tell everyone in school”.
Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and to those who joined in anyway. We hope to do it again next year, in better circumstances, when the judges may be able to visit gardens and meet competitors. It would be great to grow this competition into something bigger so we will be keeping our fingers crossed for next spring. Please email any ideas or thoughts you have about next year’s competition to editor@themead.org.uk
Many thanks to our local groups for their help and support with the competition – Team Southmead, Sustainable Southmead, BS10 Parks & Planning, and Sustainable Westbury-on-Trym.
Lastly, huge congratulations once again to our winners – here are a few of their photos:
OLIVER’S PHOTOS:
RICH’S PHOTOS:
PAT’S PHOTOS:
