Resort looks bloomin' lovely!

News Archive > General > Resort looks bloomin' lovely!

Sarah Morcom01/08/2012

NEWQUAY went for gardening gold yesterday as the town was judged for a prestigious national competition.

Volunteers have spent the past few weeks working hard to ensure the town looked its best for the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Britain in Bloom UK finals 2012.

The contest is the UK’s biggest gardening and environmental campaign and saw Newquay in the ‘town’ category along with Halstead, Windermere and Morpeth, among others.

The resort is among 72 finalists which were picked from more than 1,000 cities, towns, villages and urban communities to take part in the competition and is hoping to score top marks to be announced category winner at the awards ceremony due to take place in early October.

RHS national judges Nigel Bishop and Sue Wood visited the town from 11am until 1.30pm yesterday to meet members of the Newquay in Bloom Partnership and were taken on a tour to show off Newquay’s best horticultural offerings.

Much like the recent South West in Bloom competition, the judges will be assessing the area against three key criteria – horticultural achievement, community participation and environmental responsibility.

Newquay represents the South West and volunteers are hoping to impress to win its
category. The two judges spent their time scrutinising projects such as wildlife conservation
initiatives and public spaces, such as parks and community gardens. They  assess everything from the sustainability of a planting scheme to the cleanliness of a street bench, including how much the community engages local schools.

Roger Burnett, chair of the RHS Britain in Bloom UK judging panel, said: “Our finalists have had to endure difficult weather conditions and ongoing council cuts. But this is why I’m even more excited than normal, because I love seeing the imaginative ways communities overcome challenges.

“It was reported that groups were pulling out of Britain in Bloom because of these problems but, in fact, we’ve had a 10% increase in the number of groups signing up this year.

“Nothing fazes our volunteers and RHS Britain in Bloom 2012 represents a sense of
community spirit and endeavour which is an inspiration to us all.

“I hope the volunteers were able to relax and enjoy themselves – we’re here to see the marvellous work you’ve done to improve your local areas and, on behalf of all the RHS judges, we wish you the best of luck, Newquay.”