Mayfield gardener picks up ‘Baxter Keiller Award’
A keen gardener from Mayfield, Dalkeith, has scooped this year’s ‘Baxter Keiller Award’ for outstanding garden, announced at Melville Housing’s recent Annual General Meeting.
Mrs Catherine Birdsell of Oak Crescent, Mayfield, was chosen from a shortlist of three, impressing the judging panel with her use of colour, the spread of eye-catching features and the great deal of hard work put in to a garden ‘full of character’.
Andrew Noble, Melville Chief Executive, said:
“Congratulations to Mrs Birdsell for this richly-deserved prize. It’s not been a vintage summer for gardeners, but, despite the tricky conditions, I was extremely impressed by the quality of entries.
“There was a great deal of variety in this year’s competition, giving the judging panel a very difficult task narrowing it down to just three finalists.
“Well done to everyone who entered for all their hard work.”
For her winning garden, Mrs Birdsell received gardening vouchers to the value of £100, whilst runners-up Ms Nicola Herriot of Juner Place, Gorebridge, and Mr and Mrs Szymanski of Keir Hardie Drive, Mayfield, each received a £35 voucher.
Now in its second year, the ‘Baxter Keiller Award’ is named in honour of a keen Mayfield gardener and Melville tenant who sadly passed away in 2014. Melville set up a gardening competition to recognise the work done in 2007 by Baxter, along with his neighbour Christine McGrouther, transforming a patch of Mayfield wasteland into a fantastic community garden.