More than 400 people attended the South and South East in Bloom awards at Fontwell Racecourse

People dedicated to making their part of the region a more attractive place to live were rewarded for their hard work in the annual South & South East in Bloom awards at a ceremony at Fontwell Racecourse.

More than 400 people attended the South and South East in Bloom awards at Fontwell Racecourse. The event sponsored by Southern Water featured winners from all over the South East.

Crawley scooped the Sussex Life award for being the highest scoring entry in Sussex. Crawley went on to win a gold* award and was marked overall winner in the Champion of Champions category for its Small City entry.Tilgate Park received gold in the Large Park category.

Chichester winners included a gold award for the city centre in the Champion of Champions category, gold and overall winner in the Large Town category, and Bishop’s Palace Garden received a gold award in the Small Park category.

Rustington in Bloom was awarded gold and overall winner in the Town category, whilst Woodlands Recreation Ground won gold and was overall winner in the Park category. Gold awards also went to East Court Estate in East Grinstead and Almonry Garden in Battle both in the Small Park category and East Beach Pond in Selsey in the Conservation Area category.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Southern Water’s sponsorship of the competition. Entry numbers have increased fivefold over the decade and a near-record 253 took part this year.

South & South East in Bloom chairman Peter Holman thanked Southern Water for their continued support and said: “We are delighted to have held up pretty well in terms of the number of entries this year, even though many areas are being affected by spending cuts.

“We had 51 main category entries, nearly 70 communities taking part in It’s Your Neighbourhood, 49 parks and 85 schools in our Blooming Schools campaign, which is fantastic and shows that there are many people out there working hard to improve their communities.”

Andy Shaddick, public affairs manager at Southern Water, said: “Our partnership enables us to remind gardeners of the importance of using water wisely which is particularly important as we continue our programme to install water meters across the region. The south east is classified as an area of serious water stress so we are installing nearly 500,000 meters to help reduce demand.

“There are many ways to reduce water use while gardening and there is lots of advice on our website."