“Butterflies Are Important” that is the message from this year’s Marlborough in Bloom. Members have been working with Butterfly Conservation in local schools and have organised an art competition on the theme for the students at Marlborough St. Mary’s.
Anne Crawley, chair of Marlborough in Bloom, told marlborough.news: “Sadly, butterflies are far less common than they were 50 years ago. Since the 1940’s, 97 per cent of wildflower meadows have been lost. Seventy per cent of UK butterfly species have declined since the 1970’s.”
“We want to help preserve these lovely creatures. In May, Maurice Avent, former Chairman of Butterfly Conservation, entertained and inspired the Marlborough St Mary’s children with his illustrated talk about the life cycle of butterflies.”
The art competition required students to create butterflies as paintings, sculptures, collages or crochet.
Slade graduate, professional painter and Shalbourne resident, Victoria Jinivizian, judged the competition: “I have been very impressed with the high standard of work. The range of interpretation is very creative. It has been very difficult to pick winners.”
The first place prizes went to Eva Stansby’s painting in the Key Stage One category, and to Parker Wilson in Key Stage Two category for his butterfly made out of pages from an atlas.
Pupils with runner-up places or with judge’s commendations were Poppy Deane, Harvey Hepworth, Macy Manning-Rooney, Will Palmer, Tom Baker, Megan McGrath, Ruby Waters, Phoebe Smith, Jack Baker, Charlie O’Shaughnessy, Archie Guarneri, Spenser Whiting and Eleanor Holford-Wright.
Prizes were donated by The White Horse Bookshop and the art work will be on display in High Street shop windows from July 10 in time for the Britain in Bloom judging day on July 13.
The Britain in Bloom competition, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is an annual nationwide campaign. The campaign focuses on community action to improve and regenerate local environments in the three key areas: horticultural achievement, community participation and environmental responsibility.
Marlborough’s success in the 2016 Britain in Bloom competition, winning a Silver Gilt, has given the town the honour of entering in the 2017 Champion of Champions class. The judge will be Jon Wheatley, Chair of South West in Bloom.
Members of the community are encouraged to meet on Wednesday mornings at 10am at the back entrance of Waitrose to help tidy up the Bloom tubs and boxes around the town.
Anne Crawley commented, “This will be a challenging year for Marlborough in Bloom but I feel sure the townsfolk and businesses will rise to the occasion on Judging Day (July 13). We are going for gold in 2017, so let’s make Marlborough blooming marvellous.”
There is more information on the Marlborough in Bloom website.
Refurbishment of the former Youth Centre starts – Town Councillors get to work
