It was back in July 2023 when South West in Bloom first visited the Glen – and again in September 2023 the FOGG working party were delighted to be paid a further visit by the RHS judge Jon Wheatley himself.
And so this year, on the morning of Thursday 17th July the usual weekly gathering of the volunteers of the FOGG working party along the Glen was joined by a distinguished party – comprising the judges from the RHS and Britain in Bloom including Jon Wheatley; the lead of Sidmouth in Bloom Lynette Talbot; Sidmouth councillors Hilary Nelson [the town council chair] and Ian Barlow [chair of the town council environment committee and district councillor for Sidmouth town] and horticultural officer Paul Fealey.
The visit seemed to go well, with this very encouraging feedback given by Cllr Ian Barlow:
“Can you please pass on the town’s gratitude to all the FOGG team for the incredible amount of work they have done. I think the judges were very impressed with what has been achieved and the knowledge of the team about the plants and history of the Goyle. I know I was!”
As for the FOGG team itself, they also seemed to think things proceeded well, as reported by FOGG member John Hopkins:
Us Foggers thought the visit by the delegation went extremely well.
Alas, unusually for me I didn’t take any photos, thinking it more important to chat with the various visitors. Pity, as it would have been particularly good to get a pic of the chair [Cllr Hilary Nelson] in her chain of office. I saw the Herald lady taking a pic of Annie and Sandra [FOGG working party members] which was nice. I had met Jon of the RHS [judge John Wheatley] last year, smashing chap and he recalled his last inspection and our chat.
I did chat with Ian [Cllr Ian Barlow] about taking the new path construction forward.
Nice to see Paul [EDDC horticultural officer Paul Fealey] too after such a long time. Great that he was there to fill in planting info, what has happened so far and future ideas. I think he is grateful that our small group just carry on doing our best to keep things ticking over to good effect.
So all very productive; it’s always good to show off what has been achieved. Many members of the public chipped in thanks and comments to the delegation as they walked through too, so I think they got the right impression that it is now a very much appreciated asset.
Let’s see how well FOGG and Glen Goyle do this year – compared to last year’s RHS “It’s Your Neighbourhood” Outstanding Award for the Friends of Glen Goyle.
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