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TWO Wembdon flower enthusiasts
have scooped gold medals for their colourful exhibitions
at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.
Roy Cheek, of Wembdon Rise, and Mike Higgins, of Wembdon
Hill, won the awards for their Mauritius and Chrysanthemum
exhibitions.
Roy, co-ordinator and planner for the Mauritius exhibition,
spent 20 years at Cannington College as senior lecturer
in horticulture and attends the London show every other
year as a judge.
Following his retirement, Roy now leads international garden
and botanical holidays which has seen him lead fellow enthusiasts
across the world, exploring and studying gardens from South
America to the Baltics.
He said: "As a flower show judge, I could see the Mauritius
anthuriums exhibition had never won an award and I felt
sorry for them.
"I took on the role as exhibition co-ordinator and
they gradually improved by picking up bronze and silver
medals before this year's gold medal.
"With 25 years' judging experience, I know what's required
for a good exhibition. I have won a gold medal before so
I am obviously pleased with this one but I don't get quite
as excited as I perhaps should do.
"As someone who has been a judge for so long, I have
a fairly good ideal of what an exhibition should include
so it's not such a surprise to me."
Fellow winner Mike, a former Cannington College student,
was the co-ordinator and planner for the National Chrysanthemum
Society and he staggeringly scooped his 10th Flower Show
gold medal in a row for the exhibition.
He said: "It is quite an achievement to win ten gold
medals in a row. I class it as similar to winning the World
Cup as Chelsea is the greatest flower show in the world.
"Setting up your exhibit is an arduous and tiring experience,
everything is so clinical, but the relief of winning is
a great feeling.
"The enormity of your achievement sets in once you
see the TV cameras focusing on your flowers and the visitors
saying how wonderful they look, but it gets harder every
year and I think this may well be my last Chelsea show." |
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