Chance for gardeners to blossom

Five gardens will be open to the public on Sunday as part of Newark’s entry into the East Midlands in Bloom competition.

Competition judges will tour the town on Monday.

Mr and Mrs Andrew Macklam and Mrs Sue Mackenzie, neighbours on St Catherine’s Close, Newark, will open their gardens from 2pm-5pm.

They will offer tea and cakes and will have collection boxes for Beaumond House Community Hospice.

Mr and Mrs Macklam joined the bloom committee earlier this year to help encourage others to take part and raise the profile of the town’s entry in the competition.

The couple were asked to join the committee after regularly winning prizes in the town council’s garden awards.

The neighbours grow a mixture of vegetables and plants.

It is the second year that Newark has entered the East Midlands in Bloom competition.

Mrs Marika Tribe, the chairman of the town council’s environment and leisure committee, said judging would take 21/2 hours and appealed to people to keep areas near their homes tidy.

She said it was important to keep the town looking good throughout the year, not just for the judging.

Work in the last year has included a plant swap, provision of more than 80 hanging baskets and a school potato-growing competition.

Over the next year, the bloom committee hopes to start a gardening society in Newark and get more people involved.

Gardens open on Sunday afternoon are: 33, St Catherine’s Close, 26 St Catherine’s Close, 1 Trent Villas (off The Maltsters), 9 The Maltsters, and Howes Court Community Centre.