A GARDEN created by wheelchair- bound Stuart Fletcher has won a competition, just three weeks after he died.

The garden, in the courtyard of the Burnham House residential home, in Park Road, Malmesbury, scooped first place in the courtyard section of Malmesbury in Bloom, with judging last week.

Mr Fletcher, 54, of Cowbridge Crescent, Malmesbury, attended the day care centre at Burnham House, and died on July 5, following a heart attack during a day care visit to Weston-super-Mare.

"He put a lot of work in to the garden and it will always be his place," said Daphne White, the day-care co-ordinator.

She hopes to reach agreement with Mr Fletcher's family to put a birdbath, as a memorial, in the centre of the garden. "The garden is brilliant, and so colourful, and Stuart contributed so much to it," she added.

Burnham House resident Hilda Long, 88, who used to live in Milbourne Lane, near Malmesbury, finished third in the courtyard section.

Miss Long, who has lived in the town for more than 50 years, tends an array of potted plants at the end of a corridor in Burnham House. She had won the courtyard section for the past two years, and finished second the previous year. Grace and Derek Bishop, of White Lion Park, Malmesbury, won the £125 first prize for the best-decorated faade, sponsored by David Hendry Cars, of Park Road.

The winners will be presented with certificates in a ceremony at the town hall.