
Guernsey horticulturalist wins 35th gold at Chelsea
Guernsey horticulturalist Raymond Evison has won his 35th gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for his clematis display.Mr Evison, 81 who also won gold in 2024, said it was "really exciting" to win again and to put the island on the map, but added it was "very much a team effort".His garden was named the best exhibit in the great pavilion, which Mr Evison said was a "tremendous honour"."It was very unexpected and was all a big surprise, we are all very excited," he added.
Mr Evison won 15 consecutive golds at Chelsea for exhibits of clematis cultivars between 2003 and 2017. He said the exhibit this year was 140 square meters and included an imaginary Guernsey sea shore scene with 10 boats floating on waves of blue and white clematis. He added the stern of every boat included the words "Guernsey" and each was filled with brightly coloured flowers.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The Great British sauce debate is FINALLY settled: Scientists reveal the ultimate condiment to put on chips - and it's bad news for gravy fans
There's no doubt the humble potato chip is an icon of the great British cookbook. From the fanciest bistro to the lowliest greasy spoon, where wouldn't you find a nice hot serving of chips? And whether they're served alongside a posh steak or wrapped in paper with battered fish, there's certainly no shortage of serving options. What's more up for debate, however, is the greatest accompaniment to have with this most beloved of fast food. The burning question of the best chip topping is one that has been debated across pubs, chip shops and households for decades. But now, the debate may just have been put to bed for good – and it's bad news for gravy fans. Scientists reveal the ultimate condiment to put on chips – and there's one clear winner. Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, says salt & vinegar is the top choice, followed by mushy peas. The multi-sensory food expert – who is also the son of a chip-shop owner in Leeds – said the malt vinegar is effective at cutting through the oiliness. 'It always end up over chips underneath so the salt and vinegar combination becomes the familiar option and then gets extended to crisps,' he told MailOnline. Although popular, tomato ketchup is 'perhaps an infantile condiment' because of its sweetness – typically containing one teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon of ketchup. According to the expert, this may be why ketchup is so favoured in the US, which has long had a predilection for oversweet food. Mayonnaise on chips, meanwhile, is an import from continental Europe – likely originating in Belgium, France or the Netherlands. Mayo on 'French fries' memorably triggers the disgust of Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film 'Pulp Fiction'. But Professor Spence is in agreement that there's 'something about the eggy oily texture and insipid colour' that quite rightly puts people off. Dr Sue Bailey, culinary historian and independent lecturer in food science, agreed that acidic condiments like vinegar and ketchup cut through the fatty coating of the chips. But the best sauces with chips are either mayonnaise or tartare sauce, she claims. These have an unctuous consistency but don't fall off the chips when we raise them to our mouth. 'Adhesive viscous or thicker sauces are always popular and the most favoured ones have good clinging or "thixotropic" properties – so mayonnaise and ketchup, possibly curry sauce depending on if a starchy thickener is used in it,' she told MailOnline. Gravy, meanwhile, is just too runny and makes a mess – meaning chips with gravy requires a knife and fork, which is not preferable. As Professor Spence puts it, 'the first taste is with the hand', as the food we feel in the hands influences our perception in the mouth – so when it comes to chips it's best to avoid cutlery. Professor Spence also thinks eating something with a range of colours can 'make what we eat look more attractive' and in turn increase our enjoyment of it. A good example here is pairing the vibrant yellow of chips with the vibrant, glimmering red of tomato ketchup or the almost radioactive green of mushy peas. Conversely, curry sauce and mustard – despite packing a big punch of flavour – rank somewhere near the bottom when it comes to colourful chip toppings. The 2020 YouGov poll asked Brits what they have on their chip. They found tomato ketchup is a popular chip topping in England and Scotland, but in Wales people are more likely to favour curry sauce 'You don't get much colour contrast with curry or mustard and fish and chips,' Professor Spence told MailOnline. Slightly more 'posh' or alternative options at the chippy are a sprinkle of black pepper or a smear of mustard, but these are far from ideal. 'Mustard or black pepper are not standard choices – they're a bit overpowering flavour wise,' Dr Bailey told MailOnline. Professor Spence added that part of what makes a perfect food combination 'depends on what we are familiar with because we have grown up with it'. And this may be why there's so much variation regarding what exactly Brits put on their fries. According to a 2020 poll of more than 36,000 Brits, the most popular chip toppings are tomato ketchup, curry sauce and mushy peas, in that order. However, salt and vinegar was excluded as a choice in the YouGov poll because 'they simply dominate everywhere'. Interestingly, tomato ketchup is a popular chip topping in England and Scotland, but in Wales people are more likely to favour curry sauce. Tomato ketchup triumphs by some margin in England (34 per cent) and Scotland (25 per cent), whereas in Wales curry sauce reigns supreme (35 per cent).


BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Push to keep reviving Wolverhampton's architectural history
A city's historic buildings are undergoing a revival and one local photographer, Ian Hughes, said: "We should be shouting about it from the rooftops."Talking about Wolverhampton, he admitted he was once "one of the naysayers who felt it was a dump" - but has found a love for the city's architectural history and said: "There's a lot to celebrate in Wolverhampton."Emma Purshouse, editor of the Black Countryman magazine, also believes the city has some amazing said: "If it was Stratford or the posh parts of London, they'd have been preserved and made part of a tourist trail." Mr Hughes started going on walks around the city two years ago, taking photos of the buildings as he has more than 10,000 images and said the city was now "definitely a phoenix rising from the ashes".One recent discovery which stuck in his mind was a large brick building near the canal."Nobody seemed to know what it was," he said - but he eventually found it had once been a butter and cheese Hughes said it was a "lovely building, totally overgrown and desperately in need of repair" and he felt it had an interesting story to tell. Mr Hughes said he did not know why Wolverhampton "chose to knock things down" but it was nothing new or unique to the said the Victorians "just swept everything away" to create the modern city centre and their buildings had in turn been replaced after World War Two."In the 1950s, councils up and down the country did exactly the same," he Mr Hughes is not angry about the city's lost history and said: "People made what they think were the right decisions at the time."These buildings were never built to last forever and be part of history, they were built with a purpose and those purposes are long, long gone." Ms Purshouse said she believed it was "easier to knock things down than preserve them" but there were many examples of interesting architecture still in said her favourites included the Great Western pub, with its cobbled street "because it feels like you've just stepped back in time into a little Victorian pocket of Wolverhampton" and the Lychgate Tavern off Queen's some old buildings were "hidden" behind modern shop fronts, with others it had been "easier to knock things down than preserve them", she added. Ms Purshouse was appointed Wolverhampton's first poet laureate during the coronavirus pandemic and, like Mr Hughes, spent a lot of time walking around the said while some buildings had been lost, there were also good examples of historic buildings being preserved, such as the Albion former corn mill has been turned into flats but its appearance has been also hoped the city's former eye infirmary would be treated sensitively when the old NHS site was is planning consent to turn it into flats, a special needs school and an eating disorder city council said the Victorian building and former nurses accommodation would be restored as part of that work and it was encouraging the owners to move the project Purshouse said she has happy to see buildings change their use if they can "keep the architecture and keep the feel of the things". Mr Hughes said there were also encouraging signs for the future of Wolverhampton, with projects such as the planned redevelopment of the former Beatties site will be turned into a mixture of apartments and shops and the city council said it was in "regular contact" with the owners of this building too, "to offer support and encourage action to move things forward". The councillor responsible for development in Wolverhampton, Chris Burden, said the city was "full of beautiful architecture" and the council took the preservation and restoration of heritage buildings "extremely seriously".The authority pointed to a number of other buildings which have been brought back into include the Grade II listed Civic Hall and Wulfrun Hall, now known simply as The Halls, which were refurbished at a cost of £ former Royal Hospital, which closed in 1997, has also been brought back into use as flats for people over the age of projects still in the works include turning the former Chubb Locks factory into a four-screen cinema and the restoration of the central council said it was also working with the owners of the city's other empty buildings to bring them back into use and improve how they look from the outside. While it might be romantic to think Wolverhampton's forgotten buildings could all be brought back into use, Mr Hughes believes people should be realistic about the future of town shopping habits changing, he said: "Towns as we knew them are gone, they're never coming back."But he said if developers were prepared to put in the money and the effort, the centre of Wolverhampton "could become what it used to be". Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Chard cafe runs chatty sessions to combat loneliness
A cafe has introduced a "chatting" table to combat loneliness in the local first ever "chatter and natter" session at Chard's CommuniTea Waffle on Holyrood Street took place in May, offering a chance for customers to meet new idea is that anyone, no matter what age or background, can sit together and socialise on the designated manager Blue Gover said: "We're all about bringing people together and making sure everyone feels welcome and there's a space for people to come if they need it." The cafe is a not-for-profit organisation which gives all proceeds to projects and charities elsewhere in part of those efforts, they decided to help people who feel lonely in the community. Help with finances "We realised how lonely people can get," Ms Gover said."One thing that really stood out to us was an older gentleman who said he just comes in to 'see someone'. We needed to do something about this."We noticed that loneliness comes hand-in-hand with finances so we have a pay-it-forward programme so if you came in and wanted a coffee you could take a voucher off the board and you could still have a chat and not feel like you don't belong."Ms Gover said to remove any potential awkwardness, they have a volunteer who joins the chatty table and helps get conversations started."What we're hoping is create a group of people who come in on a Thursday," Ms Gover said."It doesn't matter who you are and how old you are. Even if it's just for five minutes it gives you the opportunity to get a different perspective, to shut off from the world."