The weather.
Clearly the year has not ended yet but with 2023 and 2022 being the hottest ever recorded years we can presume that climate change will make 2024 a hot year. In Otley our summer was slightly cooler than recent years, and wetter, which significantly reduced our need to water. Both spring and autumn have been warmer than historical norms, bringing flowering of many plants forward by up to four weeks.
Mowing.
Leeds Parks and Leeds Highways organise most of the public mowing around town and you can see how their work significantly changes our micro-environments. For example,their change to verge mowing is changing the shape of the tree tunnel on the bypass. Their change to mowing at the Ilkley Road underpass initially helped bring back some wildflowers but their second change has removed those same wildflowers. Moving from multiple mows to twice a year mowing and now late, single mowing will bring other changes. Poor quality mowing can cause bark-ringing which has killed trees in the town.
Ongoing projects.
The plantings with perennial plants, maintenance and watering of planters continue to be a major part of our work. We work with other voluntary organisations and Leeds Parks when they invite us to, but not with Instaplanters at the moment. This year we have seen some confusion over the Buttercross hanging baskets but we enjoyed planting up the baskets and Leeds finally ended up providing alternative ones.
Other successful ongoing projects include Wharfemeadows’ four beds, the Nectar Beds, Gallows Hill car park, various spots in Cambridge, Meyers Croft beck, 34 barrier planters, Burras Lane car park’s planters, Charles Street car park, the Ellar Ghyll recycling centre bed, Bremner Street corner and the fire station garden.
Fun projects.
All our projects are fun but some stray away from pure plantings. This year we did our second window box project, building (with Otley Maker Space), installing and planting 10 boxes on Albion Street. We built and fitted a purple wooden seat in Cambridge to replace an old one, to offer a rest point on the walk into town. We post photos every few days on Facebook to show off the best of what Otley has growing around town. Finally we took part in the Christmas tree festival and gave the £43.54 received to Hug on a Tray.
OiB is a great organisation to join, with welcoming supportive members all trying to make Otley a better place to live in. Membership is free and open to all. You can find us at https://www.facebook.com/Otleyinbloom or email us at otleyinbloom@gmail.com. As I prepare to step down as Chair of OiB after 5 years I’d like to thank all the members for their incredible support during Covid, during the development of the four massive beds in Wharfemeadows and in the day-to-day projects we have completed. Many hands really do make light work.
Bill Austin
Chair Otley in Bloom
Otley in Bloom 