KIRKBY Stephen's garden trail really bloomed this year, raising a record £1,012.82 and, thanking everyone who contributed to its success, committee member Sue Dakin said: "We have agreed a donation of £750 to the Great North Air Ambulance Service, and a second donation of £250 to Kirkby Stephen's Health Centre."

She explained that it was felt that the organisation in greatest need of an immediate injection of funds was the Air Ambulance, whose service had been out of commission for lack of money, for some of the year. As the Kirkby Stephen area was very much a rural community, in terms of distance and time to reach emergency hospital services, the committee felt that the community would benefit from keeping the air ambulance in the air as an additional resource in a medical emergency.

In previous years the committee have made the Health Centre the sole beneficiary of the money raised, donating a total of £2,117.20, over the past three years.

To raise additional funds, and to allow those who could not visit the gardens on the trail weekend, the committee has planned a cream tea morning, at 10am, on Saturday, October,29, at the Masonic Hall in Kirkby Stephen. Everyone is welcome. The coffee morning will present an opportunity to view photographs of Kirkby Stephen gardens, past and present, and the work of this year's Artist in Residence, who created a garden display which reflected Kirkby Stephen gardeners' habit of nipping out into the garden, in their slippers, to do gardening tasks, while drinking their morning tea.

There will also be some lace items and original embroidery pictures of Sue Dakin's for sale to raise funds. Sue has been a designer of embroidery kits for well-known embroidery kit suppliers for many years. The embroidery pictures donated to Kirkby's garden trail fund-raiser are original designs, some of the lakes of Cumbria and Scotland, which Sue had personally embroidered for herself.

The Kirkby Stephen Garden Trail committee will be available, at the cream tea morning, to talk about the role of the garden trail in the town and its links with Cumbria in Bloom and the wider community. Kirkby Stephen won the "Best Large Village/Small Town" trophy, alongside the "Best in Borough" at the 2005 Cumbria in Bloom competition. Many Kirkby Stephen garden trailers contributed to this achievement with their wonderful floral and foliage displays outside their premises and within their gardens. A special thanks is extended to the businesses in the town whose marvellous displays were better than they have ever been.

Sue added: "On behalf of all past and present garden trailers the committee would like to offer its thanks to Donald Walker, who is retiring from the garden trail committee to pursue his developing role as public relations officer and executive committee member for Cumbria in Bloom. Donald has been instrumental in the success of the garden trail for many years. His experience and expertise will be sorely missed."

The Kirby Stephen garden trail AGM meeting has been set for Monday, November, 21, 2005. The committee wants to actively recruit new members from the wider community to join the committee, or to take a less active role in the development and implementation of the garden trail for 2006. Interested parties should contact Ron and Heather Dakin on 017683 72281, or Tom Russell on 017683-42640.