Volunteers hoping for blooming good result at Heart of England RHS competition as judges visit village
Members of the Norton In Hales In Bloom group are hoping they've done enough to earn a place in the RHS Britain in Bloom competition.
Judges from the 'Heart of England' competition visited the village today to see the work of volunteers who take pride in making their community look beautiful.
The judges were given a short presentation by group chairwoman Sarah Moulson and were taken on a tour of the village, including the new bird hide.
Ms Moulson said that in order to enter into the RHS Britain in Bloom competition, they must first pick up Gold in the Heart of England competition, which is run in association with RHS Britain in Bloom.
The Bloom Group of Norton In Hales has a long and illustrious history of entering RHS competitions and in 2015 was awarded the coveted gold medal in the national Champion of Champions village category.
But they haven't entered any major competitions in a number of years, partly due to the restrictions of the Covid pandemic.
Now, they're back with new members and are hoping to earn their place on competition leaderboards once again.
Ms Moulson said: "It's fantastic, it was nerve-wracking to start the whole process again because it's the most immense amount of work, but we have a large bloom group now, there's 20 of us.
"A lot of people in the new houses in Norton-in-Hales have seen the group as a way to make friends and to meet new people.
"We have divided the village up into areas, so everyone has their area of responsibility and we give them the planters and tell them what we need to do.
"The judges arrived this morning, we gave them a presentation and then we went through the village to show the judges what we have done in the last year as well as what we have planned for the future and how we raise our money."
The three categories in the Heart of England competition were 'horticulture', 'environment' and 'community'.
Volunteers had to demonstrate how they have cared for and adapted to the changing climactic conditions with their plant choices and how they have engaged with their local community.
Judges were shown the new bird hide that was a winner in the 2022 Veolia EnviroGrant scheme in conjunction with Shropshire Council.
Steve Mitchell, the Veolia regional director, Angela James the Veolia grant coordinator were present at the event and were said to be thrilled at how the grant money had been spent.
