A Wales in Bloom judge who has been visiting Prestatyn for over 10 years has praised the town “for getting back on track” with its floral displays.
Jim Goodwin’s latest visit to the town took place on Tuesday (July 15th) when he was given a whistlestop tour of both Prestatyn and Meliden by chair of the Prestatyn in Bloom Committee and Dr James Davies, along with other committee members and volunteers.
The annual contest inspires community groups in towns, cities and villages to make positive changes to their local environment through horticultural, environmental and community action.
The town has previously been awarded Gold on several occasions, but last year was awarded a Silver Gilt, scoring very highly in the environment section, but losing points due to a lack of colourful displays in the Town Centre.
However, during his visit this year, Mr Goodwin said he was impressed by the improved displays and praised all those responsible for “getting the town back on track”.
He said:
“I have been visiting Prestatyn for many years now and it is always a great pleasure.
“James and the rest of committee and volunteers work incredibly hard throughout the year to ensure that Prestatyn and Meliden look their best.
“Sadly, standards did go down slightly last year for a number of reasons, but on returning this year I was very pleased to see that they have got things back on track with the floral displays much improved - there is more density in the beds, more colour and more height.”
Whilst not able to give too much away, Mr Goodwin said Prestatyn was a “strong competitor” in the ‘Large Towns’ category of the annual contest.
Speaking during a break in judging at Tu Mundo Cafe, where Mr Goodwin was shown a presentation of further work in the town, Mr Goodwin added:
“In the years that I have been coming to Prestatyn things have changed and improved a lot and that is down to all the hard work of the committee and volunteers - what they do for the town is fantastic. James in particular goes above and beyond: I have always been in awe of what he does, which is why he was awarded a special award last year for all his efforts over so many years.
“It is a great town with much to offer and I am really pleased that they took on board my feedback from last year and have made improvements to their displays - it has put them in a strong position in the contest.”
Mr Goodwin started his tour at the top of Prestatyn Hillside, before visiting a residential front garden, Prestatyn High School, the Roman Bath House, Tiny Tots Nursery, Meliden, the Morfas, Hedgehog Help, Ffrith Beach, the railway station, Coronation Gardens, the beach and dunes, the Bodnant Park orchard and finally the town centre.
Chair of Prestatyn in Bloom, James said:
“It is always a pleasure to welcome Jim to Prestatyn and to show him what we have been doing.
“Last year, he did make some constructive recommendations regarding the town's floral displays and Cllrs Carol Evans and Ian Lifford helped us make a special effort to address that this year, so I am pleased he was impressed by the improvements.
“So much goes into making Prestatyn and Meliden look as good as they usually do and I would like to thank all committee members and volunteers for dedicating so much of their free time each year, and also the businesses who actively get involved - we really do have good business participation. I would also like to thank mental health charity KIM Inspire for making the planters to go outside Ty Caradoc Community Centre.
“This really is a team effort and I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved this year – I just hope it is enough to ensure another ‘Gold’ award – only time will tell!”
