Prison wins national garden competition
20 August 2010
Prisoners at a female closed category prison have won the national award for the best kept prison garden in England and Wales for 2010.
The Royal Horticultural Society judging panel selected HM Prison Foston Hall, Derbyshire, to be awarded The Windlesham Trophy, a redundant ‘Green Goddess’ Fire Engine bell, which was devised in 1983 by Lord Windlesham, then Chairman of the Parole Board.
RHS President Elizabeth Banks presented prisoners at HM Prison Forston Hall with The Windlesham Trophy at a ceremony on Wednesday 18 August.
Twenty female prisoners look after the gardens at Foston Hall, which include a conifer collection, two rock gardens and range of glass houses where produce, including fruit trees, tomatoes, peppers, fennel and aubergines is grown for outside distribution.
Greg Riley-Smith Governor HMP & YOI Foston Hall, said: "Winning Windlesham is a real accolade for both staff and prisoners at Foston Hall who have worked together to transform the environment. We can demonstrate that the improved prison grounds have coincided with a marked drop in violence and incidents of self-harm."
Within the gardens the prisoners look after an animal sanctuary including goats and birds. The annual sowing of wild flower seeds provides a haven for damsel flies, dragonflies, butterflies and numerous insects and birds.
Horticulture now forms an important part of the resettlement agenda, giving prisoners the opportunity to obtain industry recognised qualifications not only in gardening skills but also in the use and care of horticultural machinery. Participating prisoners are presented with a certificate acknowledging their assistance signed by the RHS president.
Today around 1,500 prisoners garden in prisons across the country. Around 30 prisons took part in the 2010 Windlesham Trophy Competition with growing food, annuals, trees and shrubs and helping wildlife were strong themes in all four finalist gardens.
Runner-ups, Bullingdon, Oxfordshire, have made their own collection of bee-hives to produce honey for local sales.
In Wandsworth, London, which achieved third place there are fine displays of vegetables in raise beds, while fourth-placed Dartmoor, in Devon, grows vegetables for a scheme that distributes the produce to those unable to grow vegetables themselves.