Water feature’s a splash hit

A company owned by a Milnrow man has helped Stoke Council win a silver medal at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Fountains and Features Ltd, owned by Andrew Harrison, supplied the water feature element of a display entitled Transformation. Mr Harrison and his team spent 18 months on the project.

“Judging by the number of people who visited the stand, and the number of celebrities from theatre, film and television who spent time at the garden, the project lived up to every expectation,” said Mr Harrison.

Fountains and Features Ltd, based in Oldham, was approached to support the Stoke project by other suppliers, who pulled together the 15mx10m stand depicting the regeneration of the city — once the capital of the UK ceramics industry.

A bubbling pond created by Fountains and Features, reflected Stoke’s 18th century peak as a ceramics hub and fed into a smaller, tranquil pool to mark the city’s industrial decline.

“The whole was depicting chaos and calm as the city reinvents itself for the modern age,” explained Mr Harrison.

Judges were so impressed they awarded the Transformation stand a Silver Medal — which is almost unheard of for a first-timer, said Mr Harrison.