Douglas in Bloom 2019, Douglas Council’s annual gardening contest, generated ’fierce competition’ said regeneration and community chairman Stephen Pitts.

Councillor Pitts, who was speaking at an awards ceremony in Noble’s Park Pavilion where the prizes were presented by Mayor and Mayoress Jon and Angela Joughin, added that there had been an encouraging number of new entries and he singled out the efforts of allotment holders at the council’s site on Johnny Watterson’s Lane where standards had improved ’in leaps and bounds’.

Judges for the competition were Councillor Pitts and assistant head of parks, Graham Newsome.