On Wednesday 3 August, our residents, service users and colleagues came together at Icknield Court to enjoy a ‘blooming’ good celebration and awards presentation of the Trust’s annual gardening competition, Fremantle in Bloom.

This year, each service taking part was presented with a Royal theme in keeping with the recent Jubilee celebrations. As the entries and project books flooded in, our keen gardeners competed in three hotly contested categories and two ‘Outstanding Achievement’ honorary awards.

The judging panel were tasked with reviewing not just the end result but also the extent to which the initiative promoted independence, creativity, inclusion and community engagement.

On the day of the celebration, the home was privileged to welcome Cllr Andy Ball - the Town Mayor of Princes Risborough, who proudly presented the awards to winners and runners up of each category. Categories included Best Royal Garden, Best Edible Garden and Best Upcycling. 

The winners are as follows: 

Best Royal Garden LD: Belgrave Lodge  
Best Royal Garden OP: Cherry Garth
Best Royal Garden Runner up: Sir Aubrey Ward House

Best Edible Garden: Icknield Court
Best Edible Garden Runner up: Fremantle Court

Best Upcycling: Lent Rise House 
Best Upcycling Runner up: Icknield Court

The Outstanding Achievement awards were presented to My Time and Lent Rise House, who both put together creative gardens that suited people of all abilities and were made up by the residents and service users. 

When asked about their feelings towards winning, Activity Organiser Debbie Baron and resident Pat Putt of Lent Rise House commented: “We are amazed, we can’t believe it! We all agreed as a unit to take part in the Best Upcycling category and even though some of our ideas were odd, we loved it! We worked so hard as a team to put it all together.”

The Fremantle in Bloom competition was first put together in 2015 to encourage residents, staff, relatives and volunteers to get involved and to enjoy the benefits of gardening. The competition has since become an annual event that has created great competition amongst the services within the Trust. 

During his visit to the home, Princes Risborough Mayor Cllr Andy Ball commented: “I once had a neighbour who lived in Icknield Court a few years ago so I was happy to have received an invitation to this event. I very much enjoyed presenting the trophies to all the worthy winners and the staff did a great job in putting it all together.”