Britain in Bloom judges visit Shropshire village
Judges from the national Britain in Bloom competition have once again visited a Shropshire village that sees taking care of its green spaces as much more than just part of a contest.
Norton-in-Hales welcomed judges to see the hard work they have completed to transform their town into a horticultural paradise.
The judges assess them on community involvement, horticulture presentation and environmental elements.
Nigel Passmore, from Norton in Bloom, said everyone has worked very hard this year to produce colourful displays including planting flower beds and oak barrels around the village.
He said: “Being involved in this competition is part of the culture of the village. We have lots of pride in keeping the village looking clean and tidy and the flowers looking beautiful. It comes naturally to us.”
The village have put on many events throughout the year to enhance community involvement, including: getting young people from the school to plant crocuses, holding a village duck race, having a ‘name the plant’ sale, and a village show where people compete in various categories.
Nigel said: “On the community aspect of the competition, we are very strong. We have a large number of volunteers and helpers – people who water the plants and tidy up the village.
“As part of the environmental aspect, we have to re-use and recycle as much as possible. We have water barrels to collect up rain water to use on the plants and flowers and we use mulch which retains moisture in the summer.
“We are quietly confident – the judges seemed quite impressed with our efforts. We have won consistently over a number of years and three years ago we were Champion of Champions.”
The town will find out if they have done enough to impress the judge’s and win the Britain in Bloom village award in early October this year, date to be confirmed.
