ST MARTIN’S can today breathe a collective sigh of relief following the conclusion of yesterday’s Britain in Bloom judging tour. The parish is representing Guernsey in the national floral competition, but must wait until September to be told the results.

Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom judges Susan Smith and Roger Bache completed a two-hour afternoon tour of the community. Although bound not to reveal how the parish had fared, they were both clearly taken with what they had seen.

‘The thing I can say is that I was absolutely impressed with the amount of community involvement,’ said Mr Bache.

‘It is not just about bloom – I can’t reinforce that enough – there is so much that underpins all of that. It is clear that the whole community understand the guidelines and understand what it is all about.’

The judges were marking on four areas – good horticultural practice, sustainability, environment and community.

Miss Smith said: ‘I think St Martin’s has demonstrated a good practice in all those areas.’

Parish floral committee chairman John Nicolle said: ‘We feel it has gone very well. The weather is perfect, we could not have asked for anything better. We were more or less on time – it is always a concern that we stick to the schedule. We don’t feel we could have done any better, everything has come right and we are delighted with what we’ve seen.

‘When people say, ﾓwhat are you aiming for?ﾔ, the top one is gold and that is what we are aiming for.’

Mr Nicolle said gold awards were hard to come by, but that was because the majority of the marks came from community involvement and because it could not have been bettered this year, the parish had a good chance.

‘We’ve got the best team of helpers we’ve ever had.’

Britain in Bloom preparation requires much behind-the-scenes work.

Ruth Laine, 76, whose husband, Alf, was the previous floral committee chairman, is one of many who have spent hours deadheading flowers and making the parish presentable.

‘It’s for the community’s sake,’ said Mrs Laine.

The judging tour concluded with tea and cakes at a sun-drenched Sausmarez Manor, where about 300 parishioners met the judges and celebrated the end of the preparation process.

‘I think we are a little bit relieved and pleased that it has been such a lovely day. The weather has just made it’ said Mrs Laine.