Meet the Judges, Assessors and Management Team
Click on a photo below for info on a member of the team
Committee members names are shown in blue
Some of the 2019 judges at the training day
Kate Dagnall
Judge
National Judge
IYN assessor
Kyle Dowling
Judge
IYN Assessor
Judy Deveson
RHS Ambassador
Julie Graham
Treasurer
Judge
IYN assessor
Anne Kempson
Judge
IYN Assessor
Wayne Palmer
Judge
Victoria Newton
Vice-Chair
Judge
IYN Assessor & Co-ordinator
Ted Smith
Chair
Judge
IYN assessor
Becky Walker
IYN Assessor
Claire Wallen
IYN Assessor
Administrator
Social Media
Becky Walker
To be completed
Kate Dagnall
I was brought up in a horticultural household in rural Kent which inspired my love for plants and landscape and led me to study horticulture at the University of Bath, specialising in amenity horticulture. During the course I worked at Hilliers Nurseries, the Chicago Botanic Garden and with Cobham Resource Consultants on a landscape study of the City of Bath. After graduating I worked for a short time at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Botanic Garden.
My involvement with Britain in Bloom started in 1987 when I joined the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM). Part of my role was to work with local towns and villages, encouraging and developing their entries to Thames and Chilterns in Bloom, with several entries reaching the national finals. I am proud that some of those entries are still involved with the Bloom today and am a huge supporter of the Bloom, having seen the beneficial effect it can have in bringing a community together as well as improving the local environment.
During my 23 years with RBWM I was involved with the management and improvement of parks, open spaces and other areas such as allotments, with nature reserves and environmental education, recreational routes and landscape sponsorship, as well as with developing planning policy relating to these areas.
In 2011 I left RBWM and joined Finchampstead Parish Council as the Clerk and Financial Officer. I enjoy working for a proactive local council which has the interests of the community at heart, with no politics involved!
I have judged for Thames and Chilterns in Bloom in since 1995, am a member of the Management Committee and chaired the Judges Panel from 2010 to 2018. In 2015 I was fortunate to be selected to join the RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals Judging Team and have judged different categories across the UK each year since then.
Full time work plus my voluntary work for the Bloom takes up much of my time but I also enjoy crosswords and other puzzles, backgammon, music, walking and travel - particularly visiting different parts of the UK.
Claire Wallen
I spent 36 years in the IT industry as a business analyst/product manager in the financial sector. I have always had a love of gardening and I probably took the wrong career path but, hey, it paid the bills.
I took the RHS General exams in 2004 with half a mind to switch career path and I am still wondering whether to pursue that dream.
I have recently become a Warfield parish councillor.
I am the chair of the Warfield Environment Group and our group gets involved in a range of activities from litter picking, nest box building, tree, hedge and bulb planting, tree surveys and rhodie bashing.
I was also the founder and chair of Warfield Grow and Share, a community allotment of 15 volunteers at the Jealotts Hill Community Landshare.
Both groups have received Outstanding RHS IYN assessments over the years.
It was these groups that led to my interest in helping out on the Thames and Chilterns In Bloom committee in 2017. I thought that my IT skills could be of use to the group and I was also very keen to see IYN from the 'other side' as an assessor of other groups. It is enormous fun and very inspiring to see small groups of people rolling up their sleeves, grabbing a spade and transforming a space into a floral wonderland.
In 2017 I was 'persuaded' by Victoria Newton to establish a Chelsea Fringe in Bracknell Forest. We managed to get 14 events organised for May 2018, with mixed results. It was a fantastic challenge and gave me something to do in my first year of retirement.
I am a yoga addict as this brings calmness to my life and I am convinced it stops me getting too many aches and pains after a day in the garden. I am a true believer that getting into the great outdoors is good for the soul - it should be prescribed on the NHS for the nations' well being.
Ted Smith
My chosen career path in horticulture has primarily been through the amenity sector working in public parks and open spaces. I have a real commitment to the provision of public open space for communities and to the benefits that those communities can derive from them.
My working life started in Dartford, Kent when I joined the Parks Department there in 1973. In 1974 I went to Askham Bryan College and took their HND in Landscape and Horticultural Technology. The course included a work placement, which I undertook in Milton Keynes. When the opportunity came to return in the late 70's I did. The expansion and growth of the New Town gave me the opportunity to develop my career. Such that I finished that career as the Landscape Manager for Milton Keynes Council managing its open space assets.
My involvement with Bloom started when I was part of the team that entered Milton Keynes into Bloom and this would probably include my proudest moment when in my own right as Landscape Manager Milton Keynes secured a Gold medal.
As I approached retirement a move towards judging the Bloom seemed obvious. This not only gives me the opportunity to continue my involvement in horticulture but to give something back as well.
I live in Bedfordshire, am married to Gillian and have two grown up sons and three grandsons.
As well as my garden, my hobbies include running and maintaining a number of older cars.
My favourite plant is possibly the Sorbus aucuparia (Mountain Ash / Rowan). A small tree that gives pleasure all year round. Flowers in the Spring, fruit in the Autumn together with glorious colour. Truly a plant for all seasons. My love for this plant goes all the way back to planting them in Milton Keynes in the mid 1970's.
Victoria Newton
Following an MSc in Environmental Technology, I spent 17 years as an Environmental Manager firstly on an oil refinery and later with British Airways. This professional background has provided me with an interest and skills in protecting the natural environment, sustainability, environmental auditing, outreach projects and community engagement.
Over the last few years this has developed my enthusiasm for all things gardening……. I have been a volunteer gardener for the National Trust for over eight years. I've volunteered on the Garden Visits Committee at the Garden Museum in London since 2014, and in 2015 brought the Chelsea Fringe to Henley on Thames, organising the opening Floral Flotilla. I have been a judge for London in Bloom for the last two years and recently completed a course in garden/landscape history.
I have now built on this varied experience by becoming a judge and IYN assessor for Thames and Chiltern in Bloom.
Julie Graham
I have been involved with Britain in Bloom since 2004 when I first participated in my Village’s entry into the competition. This first-hand experience at Regional, and three times at National level, has led to a good understanding of all elements with a particular interest in the community and heritage – both natural and historical. I was asked to become a Regional Judge in 2013 and have served in both this capacity and as an assessor with It’s Your Neighbourhood. I also work on the Management Committee as Treasurer and overseeing the Regional Awards.
My professional career was spent in education, finally becoming a Headteacher in Bracknell Forest for 15 years. With this background, I was asked to rewrite the criteria for the Regional School’s Award. This enabled the judges to become more aware of the stages of development within the different sections and to assist them in marking accordingly.
My horticultural experience comes from gardening and running an allotment with my husband plus a love for the natural environment. Living in a small village (Bray) meant I that I became involved in every aspect of Britain in Bloom whilst encouraging as many other people as possible to share in that interest. Other personal pursuits include travel and genealogy.
Judy Deveson
My background isn’t in horticulture, but history, though I’ve always been a keen gardener from the time I grew radishes and nasturtiums in a tiny grave-like rectangle in my father’s garden when I was aged seven.
I first became involved in Britain in Bloom soon after I became a Town Councillor in Stony Stratford. When I declared that the town needed more flowers, and the over-grown perennial beds needed more love and attention, the Town Clerk suggested that we could perhaps gain some guidance in these matters if we entered Britain in Bloom. Following an inspirational talk from a regional judge I was fired with enthusiasm to find other volunteers who would join me in preparing the town to enter the BIB competition, and in 2008 Stony Stratford in Bloom was born. I was lucky enough to find an amazing bunch of people who were equally passionate about improving the appearance of the town, and most of them more horticulturally knowledgeable than me. Over the years, guided by BIB judges’ comments, the town was transformed, and in 2010 we gasped with delight at the Awards Ceremony when we won the Thames and Chilterns Small Town Trophy and with Gold. We were also nominated as one of the 2 regional entries to represent Thames and Chilterns in the National Finals. The secret of this success, we knew, was that we’d drawn in the whole community.
On a personal level I was totally flabbergasted, and immensely honoured, in 2012 to be given the Thames and Chilterns Special Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Community. While I felt that there were others who probably deserved this award more than I, I also felt that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I was also very touched in 2013 to be nominated as the Thames and Chilterns BIB Ambassador (now termed Champion) – with the role of spreading the word about what a huge and positive impact entering Britain in Bloom can have on any community. As a passionate enthusiast for Britain in Bloom, I was delighted to accept that role.
Anne Kempson
I first became interested in gardening when my grandmother encouraged me to work alongside her and started teaching me the names of the flowers, Anemone japonica was one of the first and sounded very important to a small child. This enjoyment of gardening continued into adult life.
In the 1960s I worked in the laboratories of the Soil Science Department at Levington Research Station (then Fison's Fertilisers Ltd) in Suffolk. I studied for an HND in Landscape Design at Northampton University and with the RHS for their Master of Horticulture - RHS M.Hort.
I am the lead gardener and maintain the garden, with gardening colleagues, of the Cowper and Newton Museum in Olney, all managed organically. The museum garden is planted with plants available prior to 1800 that would have been grown by the poet William Cowper, and is open to visitors to the museum and also under the National Gardens Scheme for a weekend in June each year and participates in the Gardeners’ World 2 for1 entry scheme.
Since my involvement with Britain in Bloom I have met volunteers whose dedication and enthusiasm for improving their neighbourhood is inspiring. It is good to see so many of the schools participating in the RHS's Campaign for School Gardening, the increase in smaller groups entering their community projects for It's Your Neighbourhood, and the emphasis on the benefits to health and wellbeing from gardening.
I live in Olney, have two daughters and one grandson.Travelling is something I enjoy and have been fortunate to see some of the world's famous gardens and have visited some of the creative and beautiful gardens in this country. When time allows I like walking, reading, looking after the 150 plus Mediterranean plants in my conservatory and, of course, gardening - just don't look at my garden!
Kyle Dowling
To be completed.
Wayne Palmer
To be completed.