Otley wins Gold for the third year running

For the third year running, Otley has been given a Gold award by Yorkshire in Bloom, and Category winner for being the best small town in the competition this year.

Our Competition Coordinator David Bellerby said,

“We are proud and thrilled that our lovely town of Otley has been awarded Gold and Category Winner by Yorkshire in Bloom for the third consecutive year.  This is a great achievement for the town.  It is a tribute to all the hard work by Otley in Bloom members, individuals, organisations and businesses who have contributed to the colourful displays which have enhanced the town and helped to make Otley an attractive place in which to live, work and visit.  Thanks and congratulations to everyone for a great team effort in growing civic pride.”

Jason Knowles of Otley Town council said,

“Otley can certainly be proud of its floral displays and embracing the community spirit that is so important to the success of the ongoing campaign. With a dedicated chairman who has a passion for Otley and the Bloom campaign and a Leeds City Council parks department with years of experience in delivering high-quality horticultural displays, Otley is certainly now making its mark at the In Bloom competitions.  This is a fantastic and well deserved result for Otley’s In Bloom team, participating businesses, schools, community groups, Town Council, Otley BID and Leeds City Council Parks department and the many volunteers who have worked so hard not only this year but every year.”

Allotment tidying with tea and cake

Happy Birthday

Our allotment, where we save plants when they are no longer needed in planters, and grow them on to use again, was getting a bit disorganised and overgrown, so we tidied it up and gave the plants some fresh compost.  Also we tidied the shed and got rid of some unnecessary clutter.  And to celebrate getting all that done, and to give ourselves a Summer treat, and because it was nearly somebody’s birthday, we had tea and cakes.

Yorkshire in Bloom summer judging

This year’s Yorkshire in Bloom Summer Judging will take place on the morning of Tuesday 12th July.  This year we didn’t have a Spring Judging due to the winter floods, so this is our only chance this year to impress the judges, and if we do really well maybe we might get our third Gold award. 

We will be cleaning up and improving our planters and flower displays over the next week.  If you have any floral displays outside your house or business it would help us if you would make sure they are looking their best, no weeds, no dead flowers, well watered and litter-free.  We will be tidying up around Otley on Sunday morning and Monday evening.

Trees on Bradford Road

Some of the trees on Bradford Road were looking decidedly crooked, and their metal guards were even worse.  We don’t know how they got like this, maybe they were bashed by lawn mowers or wheelie bins, or maybe backed into by cars.  Anyway for this month’s taskforce we’ve straightened them up as much as possible, removed tree ties where they were no longer needed, weeded around the base of the trees and mulched them with bark chippings, and they’re looking a lot better now.  If you live on Bradford Road and there is one of our trees outside your house, maybe you’d like to help us by generally keeping an eye on it, and letting us know if there are any problems with it.  We may be able to plant a few more trees along here in the future.