It wasn’t the year any of us was expecting, but a small team of Sudbury in Bloom volunteers, alongside our partners, were able to keep Sudbury blooming throughout the year, as the photos below show.

Sudbury in Bloom members have been determined to brighten up Sudbury town centre this year, despite Covid-19 restrictions.

Volunteers lone-worked throughout lockdown maintaining and planting up gardens all over town.
After the lockdown plantsman Mark Mason organised and led small teams of volunteers to tackle the larger projects that needed extra hands, as featured on our Facebook page.

The Pride of Sudbury competition also went ahead in a reduced form, to celebrate the floral skills of our residents.

Residents were asked to upload photographs of their floral displays and containers onto our website over a period of four months, closing at the end of August.

This year judging was completed internally with winners being notified by phone and receiving their certificate and prizes by post unlike previous years when judges visited gardens and a presentation evening was held at the Town Hall.

Please provide your own drumroll for this year’s winners:
Best Front Garden – Fred Godding (pictured)
Best Back Garden – Rebecca Preswick
Best Container, Basket or Pot – Lyn Richer
Best Eco Garden – Jill Fisher
Best Home Veggie Plot – Colin Ridley

Congratulations to all our winners, and well done to everyone who took part.

Next year we will be expanding our Pride of Sudbury Residents’ Competition to include all districts of Sudbury.

We also hope 2021 will see the return of the Anglia in Bloom competition, and that restrictions will lift enough to allow us to organise fundraising plant sales.

Other plans on the horizon for Sudbury in Bloom are to replace a number of tower planters around the Belle Vue roundabout.

If you would like to get involved with Sudbury in Bloom either through volunteering or sponsorship please get in touch on 07957 817165 or fill in a form.

Just a tad wet for the planting up of the new social distancing planters on Market Hill!

Despite getting absolutely sodden in the lengthy thunderstorm our band of volunteers – which included Sudbury Town Council’s community wardens, staff from sponsors Bridge Farm Plants in Monks Eleigh, and our partners Greener Sudbury – kept their spirits high and did a great job.

We have had lots of positive comments already – we hope the sun comes back for everyone to enjoy some al fresco dining amongst the new flowers!

Big thanks go to sponsors Sudbury Perrywood who very generously donated many of the plants (the rest were grown by Sudbury in Bloom’s resident horticulturalist Mark Mason and his helpers) and all the compost; to Sudbury Town Council and the community wardens for everything they did to make the new look happen; to Babergh District Council for securing funds from the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund, which is part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Among the plants are Sedums, Salvias, Pelargoniums, Heucheras, Fuchsias, Crocosmia, Coprosmas and ornamental grasses including Miscanthus.

Sudbury in Bloom is teaming up with Sudbury Town Council to give Market Hill a makeover!

The social-distancing barriers that have been in place this summer are to be replaced with 30 large planters – and we are calling for volunteers to help us plant them up.

Perrywood Garden Centre in Newton Road is donating pallets of compost along with a number of plants, and the rest of the plants will be supplied by us.

We will be looking to carry out the planting next Tuesday – check back here for more details or visit our Facebook page.

Don’t worry if you don’t have lots of gardening knowledge as we will be able to give you guidance!


*UPDATE: We are now hoping to carry out planting on Friday 14th*

The store is packed with useful items including garden tractors, lawn mowers (including ride-ons), chain saws, shredders, strimmers, hedge cutters, garden tools, power tools, hardware, outdoor clothing and footwear.

Their sponsorship enables Sudbury in Bloom to carry out our work around town, and we are hugely grateful to Ernest Doe for their support.

To find out more about sponsorship opportunities contact vice-chairman Andy Howes on 07957 817165 or email sudburyinbloom@gmail.com.

www.ernestdoe.com/branch/sudbury

Although Covid-19 restrictions have meant we have not been able to run our monthly working parties as usual, individual volunteers have been hard at work keeping Sudbury blooming.

Sudbury’s green-fingered residents are being invited to get snapping this summer to show off their gardening triumphs.

This year’s Pride of Sudbury competition has been launched by Sudbury in Bloom to celebrate the achievements of the town’s amateur gardeners.

Whether you have fabulous floral displays, are a dab-hand at grow-your-own or are a master of eco-friendly upcycling, we want to see your efforts.

Sudbury in Bloom vice-chairman Andy Howes said: “Lockdown has led to many of us spending more time than ever in our gardens, and has given a lot of people a greater appreciation of the outside spaces we have.
“Although the Anglia in Bloom competition has been cancelled for this year, we still want to encourage everyone to do their bit to enhance our town.”

He added: “Pride of Sudbury is all about celebrating resident involvement. The awards are aimed at encouraging all sections of our community to deliver a better environment for us all through taking pride in our town.”

Categories include best front garden; best back garden; best eco garden; best hanging basket, container or pot; best vegetable patch; and heaviest pumpkin.

Entries will be judged in terms of design, floral content, imagination, and the inclusion of wildlife and conservation-friendly elements.

The competition is open to anyone living in Sudbury, Ballingdon, Great Cornard and Little Cornard, and is run in partnership with the town council.

To enter, head to sudburyinbloom.org.uk/pride-of-sudbury-2020-competition, upload your photographs – which must be landscape shape not portrait – and tell us a little about your own patch of paradise.

Entries are open until 31st August, so there is still plenty of time to get planting.

Sudbury in Bloom’s activities, including the monthly working parties, are currently under review. Please check back for updates.

The Dye Garden has been laid out with a new path through the area behind the structure. This allows both for visitors to explore and also to make future maintenance of the borders simpler!

Sudbury in Bloom help to maintain various planted areas around Sudbury and work with volunteers and other groups to make the most of the town’s floral assets. We hope that you enjoy your visit to the garden which sits on the route between the Heritage Centre at the town hall and Gainsborough House.

The work was supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government without which it would not have been possible.

The development of weavers’ piece has been supported by The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Pocket Park Grant.
Project management sponsored by SB Surveyors and with support from Babergh District Council and Sudbury Town Council.
Planting design by Herbaculture CIC.
Leaflet design by DL Design and Print and Motivation Matters.
Thanks also to sponsors including Bulmer Brick and Tile, Keyline and Smoke and Fire (Darsham) and
other individual contributors.
Contractors including John Moore Tree Services, Escar UK Bronze, Activlives, A J Smith and D J Waspe. Plan and explanatory panels by Robin Drury.

Our team of volunteers got Weavers Piece in North Street car park - also known as Siam Gardens - looking ship-shape ahead of the reopening 11am this Saturday.

The new installation was revealed from under its protective covers, the posts commemorating Sudbury’s weaving heritage got a fresh lick of paint, and lots of new planting went in, including spring bulbs donated by Bridge Farm Plants of Corn Craft, Monks Eleigh, primroses and herbs.