Wilmslow's community gardeners are celebrating after walking away with two medals in the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) annual Britain in Bloom competition, announced at a ceremony on Friday, 25th October.
Wilmslow was one of four finalists representing the region in the national competition following success in the North West in Bloom competition last year and they took home two medals.
In the large town category Wilmslow was awarded a silver gilt medal whilst Ruth Menlove, Chair of Wilmslow In Bloom, picked up the Community Champion award.
Finalists are judged not only on their floral displays but environmental and community efforts. Each finalist visited by a pair of RHS judges over a fortnight from the end of July.
Darren Share, Chair of the RHS Britain in Bloom judges, said: "Congratulations to all of this year's UK finalists. It's incredibly humbling to hear about the huge efforts they've invested in making our villages, towns and cities greener places to live, work and visit.
"This makes a tremendous difference locally but has a wider impact too. Gardeners are increasingly having to respond to the changing climate, declining pollinator numbers and plastic waste and more communities are galvanizing people around these issues to bring about positive change."
The North West finalists collected their awards from Baroness Floella Benjamin, RHS Vice President, at the ceremony held in the RHS Lindley Hall, London.
Ruth Menlove commented "I'm struggling to find the words to say just how proud and thrilled I am at the national recognition of our collective achievement here in Wilmslow. This award is really for the whole In Bloom team who bring imagination and style as well as sheer hard work to shape our entry. It's their combined effort that makes our work so rewarding. Between us we clocked up over 2,000 hours of voluntary work on In Bloom projects. I can't thank them all enough."
Helen Yates said 'We are delighted that all the hard work we put in this year – only our eighth entry into the In Bloom competition – has achieved national recognition. We showcase a number of projects around the town that offer the judges a wide variety of styles and approaches. This year we spent time and effort in helping to improve the appearance of the station forecourt and this has cheered its appearance considerably. We were also pleased that both the High School and HMP Styal contributed to our entry and both projects impressed the judges."
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