Winners and runners-up in East Hampshire District Council’s pond life art competition have seen their pictures go on a grand tour of the district.

Starting at Gilbert White’s House in Selborne in June, they moved on to the Allen Gallery in Alton and The Phoenix Theatre and Arts Centre in Bordon before returning to Alton on July 16, when the Alton Climate Action Network displayed them at the Eco Fair.

The annual contests – begun by Medstead, Four Marks, Chawton and Newton Valence tree warden co-ordinator Diana Tennyson when she was on the council’s climate change liaison panel natural environment sub-group – have also had themes of trees, the importance of trees for wildlife, and endangered species.

They continued throughout the pandemic, with a socially distanced prize-giving in the garden at Jane Austen’s House in 2020. Entrants in 2022 saw the closing date extended by the Platinum Jubilee and the Queen’s death, and the prize-giving delayed by the coronation and local elections. 

It was worth it in the end as the winners were presented with a year-long family pass at Gilbert White’s House.