Due to heavy rains for the past month and the development of some wonderful plant growth, this secret little wildlife-friendly enclave to the south of Sainsbury’s carpark was flooding and making the footpath from Myers Croft to Gay Lane impassible.
OIB had been very much part of developing this little space so we put on the wellies and dug out the blockage on Remembrance Sunday. Hopefully, this will help drain out the local yards.
We last cleaned up this area in May 2013.
The Yorkshire in Bloom awards ceremony took place on Tuesday 10th September in the grand surroundings of York Race Course. The town was delighted to be awarded a Silver Gilt award, as in 2018.
Katie Burnett, the chair said, “It is always a pleasure to take the judges on a tour around the town and show them all the great projects that the people of Otley are involved in which enhance the green spaces in the town. The judges are always very impressed by how many different volunteer groups the town has that are all working towards the same goals, the involvement of the local businesses through Otley BID and the environmental credentials of Otley Town Council.”
The group will be celebrating 20 years of making Otley bloom in 2020 and have some members who have been involved since the early days. David Bellerby, the competition coordinator, remarked, “The judging criteria have changed in the 20 years with more emphasis now being put on sustainable planting and wildlife-friendly planting rather than bedding plant displays. Our practices have to reflect how the community benefits from having great green spaces and the number of people who benefit. However some things remain the same: the judges mark us down very severely for litter, graffiti, dog mess and weeds, and those issues never seem to go away.”
The group would like to thank all the residents, businesses and groups who contribute to the Yorkshire in Bloom effort, and particularly thank Neil Wilson and the LCC Parks team who continue to do an incredible job with ever-dwindling resources.
Otley in Bloom is asking the people of Otley, do you want the town verges to be made of wildflowers that look like this rather than just green grass?
The first town that took up this idea is Rotherham. They worked with a charity, Plantlife, to modify their mowing practice on a number of verges and spread local and brought-in wildflower seed to develop an amazing series of beautiful verges.
Working with Plantlife the team developed how to achieve this, ensuring good, safe sight-lines for cars while at the same time reducing the cost of mowing and providing better areas for insects to get access to a range of British wildflowers. The mowing programme changes to an early mow in March/April to give the flowers a chance to grow ahead of the grass and then is not mowed again until late in August/September once the flowers have shed their seeds.
If you want to know more about the details of how this is done then download this pdf from Plantlife. The downside seems to be that the verges will not look like a lawn for a period and may look a little untidy. The upside seems to be larger number of flowers for bees to work and better nature avenues for other animals. Plus it is more colourful and lower cost.
If you want to share your views, please drop a note to our OIB Facebook page.
On Tuesday 9th July in the afternoon, the Yorkshire in Bloom judges will be touring Otley to see how well we’re doing. We usually do really well in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition, let’s hope Otley can make a good impression this year too.
We will be having a Big Clean-Up on Sunday 7th July at 10am at the Buttercross. This is a fun process and equipment will be provided but you might want to bring your own gloves and clothes that don’t mind a bit of dirt. Please come along if you can spare the time and help out.
On Monday 8th July at 7pm we will have a final clear-up just to tidy up things missed or any new litter.
Please come along if you can spare the time and help out.
If you have a house or a business in the centre of Otley you can help us by making sure your patch is litter-free, and any floral displays you have are looking their best, and that any dead plants are removed – also it makes the town nicer for all of us!
The weather has been making a real effort to help us and a lot of houses and businesses are looking pretty wonderful. Thank you all for the work done so far.
There are some wonderful sights in Otley at the moment, just choosing two at random:
and:
The festival was its usual pretty self with lots of input from local people and groups. Music was also provided by local musicians. OIB just had to be there.
Otley in Bloom 