Vegetable Patch Photographic Competition
In the Spirit of Thyme has raised £8,000
The Veg Patch Winners – Sue & Mark Jackson Stops
Thank you to all who participated in the vegetable patch competition and for all the donations received. Thank you to Mary Miller, who organised this competition on behalf of the HM Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire James Saunders Watson Esq, and to the Lord Lieutenant for supporting this competition.
The monies raised will go directly to our NHS, the essential services helping hospitals and patients, and local Food Banks which are so heavily in demand.
“During this extraordinary time we have seen outpourings from generosity from all corners of our communities, I’m delighted that the Lord Lieutenant Emergency Fund has been able to support a number of food banks and other essential charities who are able to respond to the most vulnerable in our society at this time. We thank all those who have donated both their time and funds.” Victoria Miles DL, Chief Executive, NCF
Ursula Buchan and Caroline Legard were unanimous in their choice of winner – many congratulations to Sue and Mark Jackson Stops. Bubbles will be flying your way. The other five prize winners are: Nina and Ottilie Murdoch, Flora Wellesley Wesley, Judith Luthman, Jeanie Hirsch and Tony Travis.
Ursula Buchan writes: “There was a terrifically good entry for the competition, with over 120 pictures of some wonderful vegetable gardens.
I enjoyed looking at them all, but was most impressed by those that combined good cultivation practices – the use of raised beds, cold frames and cloches, netting to keep off the pests, home-made structures for climbing plants, and good weed control – with a lively sense that vegetable plots can and should be pleasing to the eye, either in their layout or by the planting of trim, sheltering hedges or colourful flowering plants for cutting.
Considering mid-May is still early in the vegetable growing season, it was remarkable how advanced some crops were. I also enjoyed the humour displayed by some of the entrants, and the welcome presence of faithful dogs in a number of the gardens entered.”
Your creativity is incredible: new gardeners and seasoned ones: spuds already out, courgettes in baths, hen huts made from scratch and hydroponic seed jars on window sills. The following deserve special mention and will be receiving vegetable seeds as prizes:
Judith Dorkins, Georgie Fordham, Deborah Hayter, Mark and Claire Herrod, Claire Hoare, Clare Hopkinson, Vanessa Langdale, Kathryn McLaughlin, Wendy Nugent and her Allotment team, Geoff Plane, Amanda Ponsonby, Fiona Richards. Mungo Curwen, staying with his grandparents at Ampthill during lockdown, created a new large vegetable garden; Freddie and Patch Guest escaped the school room to go planting in the greenhouse when their mother was not looking.
Consolation prize to Mary Miller for not winning – but her plot did catch the judges’ eyes.
The Lord Lieutenant’s Emergency Fund will send these monies to help feeding health workers; food banks; mental health aid etc in these difficult times and many other charities greatly in need.
James Saunders Watson, LL, writes: “I congratulate Mary for running this wonderful competition and thank all those who have taken part. To have raised so much and engaged so many in such a short time is fantastic”.
The smallest seed of an idea grew into a vegetable treasure trove with 137 people donating funds. Your generosity is hugely appreciated by us all, and a big thank you to our noble judges.
Thank you and keep gardening, Mary Miller
The Wonderful Highly Commended
The Fantastic Others
