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.
Otley in Bloom are delighted to announce that we got a Gold Award for the second year running in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition 2015.
David Bellerby receiving the Gold and Category Winnner Award for Otley in Bloom
It has been a real team effort. The judges said they were really impressed by how many individuals and businesses were taking part, and even taking ownership of small pockets of space. Apparently this is unusual in a town the size of Otley, as normally the bigger the town the more people expect it to be “someone else’s job”. Thank you to everyone who helped us achieve this, and particular thanks to Neil Wilson and his Parks Team.
We were also the winner this year of the town category being awarded gold. Judges said: “Otley looked fabulous a testament to all your hard work, well done everyone.” Colourful hanging baskets around the Maypole, the “well cared” for White Bridge allotments, Otley in Bloom’s nectar bed and Wharfemeadows Park, were all singled out for praise, as were the many Otley businesses who put out hanging baskets and pots to brighten up shop fronts.
Yorkshire in Bloom judges Brendan Mowforth and Timothy Stewart were given a guided tour of local highlights on a lovely sunny day. They were led by Otley in Bloom committee members Katie Burnett, David Bellerby and Edie Bates, along with mayor Councillor Philip Bye and town council leader, Cllr Ray Georgeson. They looked at Wharfemeadows Park including the nectar bed, the town centre, Bridge allotments, Gallows Hill nature reserve, and the Whartons Primary School. They were shown a display and presentation at Courtyard Planters followed by lunch at the Black Horse Hotel. Otley in Bloom is hoping to match its success last year, when Otley won a Gold Award in the competition’s town section and was named category winner.
We will find out how we did on the 8th Sept at the Awards Ceremony at York Racecourse, which we hope a couple of our members will be able to attend.
The spring judging for the Yorkshire in Bloom competition is on 8th April. We have been busy planting, tidying and weeding, trying to make Otley look as lovely as we can ready for the judges. This picture shows the little garden at Bremner Street opposite Asda, after we’d pruned and litter-picked (a whole bin-liner-full of litter this time!), and planted some new flowering plants.
We will be out on 7th April in the evening picking up litter, trying to show the judges Otley at its best. if you’d like to help us, we’re meeting at the Buttercross at 7pm. (This will be instead of our normal monthly meeting.) If you have floral displays outside your house or business, it would be lovely if you could make sure they’re looking their best too.
Otley in Bloom is celebrating a golden year after Otley was awarded Gold and Category Winner by Yorkshire in Bloom. This is a great achievement for the town and Otley in Bloom would like to thank the following for their support and assistance: Otley Town Council, LCC Parks and Countryside, Neil Wilson and his team at Wharfemeadows Park, Streetscene Services, the Otley BID, Otley Lions, The Rotary of Otley Chevin, Otley Wetlands Nature Reserve, Beks Electrical, Waitrose, Courtyard Planters and all the businesses, organisations and individuals in Otley for their contributions and brilliant floral displays this spring and summer. Special thanks and congratulations go to the Whartons School, who received a Silver Gilt Award in the Young Persons category. Picture shows David Bellerby, Otley in Bloom’s Competition Co-ordinator, receiving the Awards from Jim Butress of BBC 2’s The Big Allotment Challenge at the Yorkshire in Bloom Awards in York today, September 16th.
Otley in Bloom received a Gold Award and was judged Category Winner (category 2C, Town) in the Yorkshire in Bloom Award ceremony in York. The yellow bikes with floral baskets received their own Certificate of Achievement, recognising the hard work behind reclaiming them from scrap and re-inventing them as a quirky floral celebration of the Tour de France. The colour schemes in Wharfemeadows Park and the displays by local churches, shops and businesses caught the judges’ eyes, and Otley was praised for its community spirit and celebrations of local heritage visible around the town.
Otley in Bloom 