Garstang in Bloom

Every year since 1964, communities around the United Kingdom snip, prune and plant their way to horticultural recognition during the Britain in Bloom competition.

Among those communities is the Lancashire market town of Garstang, an annual contender for some of the competition’s loftiest prizes. Garstang has been competing in Britain in Bloom for 23 years and has won over 20 awards and recognitions, including a repeat ranking in the coveted “Champion of Champions” category.

Britain in Bloom was originally initiated by the British Tourist Authority (BTA) based on the French competition Fleurissement de France. Roy Hay, a horticultural journalist visited France in 1963 and saw a country “filled to overflowing with flowers, shrubs and trees, all in full bloom”. This sight inspired Hay to approach the BTA and establish Britain in Bloom.

Today, the contest is held by the Royal Horticultural Society and is open to any community, town, village or city in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

Contestants compete for recognition in horticultural endeavours, plantsmanship, landscaping, greenness and sustainability and the way communities deal with litter, graffiti and vandalism.

Judging is held from June until September, when the winners are announced. Today, more than 1,000 contestants are involved in the competition. These contestants create lasting improvements to their local environment while upholding a tripod of core values, which are: Horticultural Achievement, Environmental Responsibility and Community Participation.

Entries into Britain in Bloom are organised into 18 regions such as:
Anglia in Bloom, Beautiful Scotland, Floral Guernsey, Heart of England in Bloom, London in Bloom, North West in Bloom, Wales in Bloom and Yorkshire in Bloom. Within these regions, communities enter under a relevant category for the competition.

The categories, determined by population, are: Small Village, Village, Large Village, Small Town, Town, Coastal (12,000 and below), Large Town/Small City (12 to 35,000), Coastal (12,000 and above), Large Town/Small City (35 to 100,000), City, Large City and Urban Community.

The town of Garstang has been competing in Britain in Bloom since 1987. From then until 2010, Garstang has placed in 3/4 of competitions entered including and relating to Britain in Bloom. Garstang’s successes are:

1990: Rolls Royce Award Best Commercial Effort
1992: Urban Community: Third Small Country Town (Category has been renamed)
1994: North West Region: First
1995: North West Region: First
1996: North West Region: First
1997: Prize North West Region: First and National Finalist
1998: Prize North West Region: First
1999: North West Region: First and Clean Sweep Award
2000: North West Region: First and National Finalist
2001: North West Region: First
2002: National Finals: First and RHS Gold Medal Small Town
2003: North West Region: First
2004: North West Region: First
2005: National Finals: First and RHS Gold Medal
2006: North West Region: First and Commercial Award and Individual Bio-diversity Award
2006: National Champion of Champions: Second and RHS Gold Medal
2007: National Champion of Champions: Second and RHS Gold Medal
2007: North West Region: First and a Merit in the Neighbourhood Awards for Kepple Lane residents
2008: North West Region: First
2008: Gold Medal in European Entente Florale*
2010: Finalist *The European Entente Florale is a horticultural competition where towns, villages and cities are judged on vegetation and landscape, environment and tourism and involvement. The countries represented are: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.

Below: a picture of Norah Hoyles 'Garstang in Bloom' Chairman from The big clean-up which took place 8 August 2010