Shropshire strikes gold in a great night at Heart of England in Bloom awards

Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth and Ludlow all won the top, gold award with Oswestry taking the title of best large town in the Heart of England competition.

There were also special awards for the county including: Heart of England in Bloom Horticultural Excellence Award for the Castle Grounds, Bridgnorth; Mike Garwood Memorial Trophy 2017 for the Best Floral Display Sponsored by Salop Leisure, for Cae Glas Park in Oswestry; Heart of England in Bloom 2017 Chairman’s Award for the garden of Kevin and Carolyn Wood from Ludlow.

Representatives of all the winning in-bloom committees received their trophies at a ceremony at Warwick Castle.

It is the first time that Oswestry, which is one of the smallest of the large towns, has been named overall winner for the category.

Judges said they were impressed from their arrival at the British Ironwork Centre to the end of the day and an aerial trip in a helicopter.

“The spectacular bedding displays in Cae Glas Park, were a joy to see, some excellent hanging baskets throughout the tour and the well maintained Cemetery all give a colourful lift to the town,” their report said.

Shrewsbury, previous category winner, is still in the premier league of floral towns, judge said.

“This town fully embraces the bloom ethos and is able to blend the horticultural excellence with far reaching environmental quality. It respect its great heritage but is able to keep up with becoming a town fit for the modern age providing a quality of life that is the envy of others.”

Those who visited Bridgnorth said the volunteer in-bloom committee had a wonderful canvas on which to build.

“Well stocked and maintained planters and hanging baskets were in abundance as

were more environmentally suitable and sustainable permanent plantings.”

“The quality of the baskets, on the local businesses, was quite superb.”

Judges Gareth Manning and Simon Long said that Bridgnorth Castle Grounds was a superb example of how a public park can still be maintained to a very high standard despite, they said, the severe funding cuts affecting parks and recreation services across the country.

"The beds and borders were well laid out, full of colour with some interesting plant species and a number of the beds had a theme commemorating Bridgnorth’s connections with the armed forces; most notably a tank, aircraft and ship created out of clipped box hedge," they said.

"There was a well-managed vegetable growing area to the right hand side of the main entrance which was maintained by the WI and, less glamorous but still important, a properly managed composting area had been created to ensure a plentiful supply of organic matter."

"All in all, this park showcased the horticultural skills of Bridgnorth’s Parks department to a fine extent and they should be proud of their achievement."

Across the Shropshire border there were also gold awards for Leominster and Stone.

Around 180 delegates from villages, towns, urban communities and cities across the Midlands attended the presentation for this year’s competition in its 10th anniversary year.

President of Heart of England in Bloom, Les Goodman said: “The judges are well aware of the hard work, commitment and enthusiasm that go into an entry. There is no doubt that the Heart of England campaign gives communities a chance to improve the area in which they live through wonderful floral displays, environmental projects and community participation.”