GALLERY: Thousands turn out for day one of Shrewsbury Flower Show
Thousands of visitors shrugged off the weather forecast to pack into Shrewsbury Flower Show today.
The town’s Quarry is staging the 132nd show with the blooms, shrubs and giant vegetables as spectacular as ever.
What began as a carnation and gooseberry show has grown into a two day festival where, while the flowers still take centre stage, the arena is filled with entertainment from showjumping and military bands to pop stars and fireworks.
Take a look at our bumper gallery from the first day of Shrewsbury Flower Show:
Specialist exhibitors from across the country were hoping that their displays would win the prized gold medals and trophies while the show garden competitors included children from Rushbury Primary School who have converted their classroom and forest school learning into a colourful, New Horizons entry.
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Tom and Annie Oxley, nine and six, spent the eve of the show building up the Rushbury school garden which includes a wormery, a pond and a hedgehog hotel and creating the mural of the Shropshire hills from plastic bottle tops that pupils have been collecting for the past six months.
Their mother, Laraine, said: “We have translated our work at school on the environment, which has looked at the problems of pollution and plastics and how they are affecting our world into the garden.”
Show president, Richard Burbidge said the Shrewsbury Flower Show has been consistently providing the very best examples of horticultural excellence since its origins in 1836.
He said: “I can’t profess to being an expert, or even a knowledgeable, gardener. However, I am able to appreciate how spiritually uplifting it can be to plant and nurture one’s own flowers, shrubs, trees, fruit and vegetables.
“For many of us, this is proving to be a welcome respite from the tedious political turmoil, to which we are all subjected at the moment,” he said.
There are a number of famous names gracing this year’s show including celebrity chef and Masterchef presenter, John Torode, gardening celebrity, David Domoney and, taking to the stage in the Quarry tonight, Scouting for Girls.
