Shrewsbury welcomes the Heart of England in Bloom judges today [WEDS] when they will be judging the town’s floral excellence against exacting criteria.
Shrewsbury Town Council is leading Shrewsbury’s floral charge, with the support of members of the Shrewsbury in Bloom committee which includes a number of community volunteers and council officers from both the town and unitary authorities.
This year the town is entering the Small City category, as well as the Parks and Open Spaces category for both the Castle grounds and Copthorne Park.
The Town Centre has already been transformed into a riot of colour, with staff having worked hard to complete the summer planting schedule.
Thousands of colourful blooms have now been planted out around town in the many hanging baskets, planters and floral beds, with more than 30,000 plants alone designated for Shrewsbury’s award winning garden in the Dingle.
Town Clerk, Helen Ball said: “With the floral schemes planted around the town, we’re ready to welcome the Heart of England in Bloom judges to Shrewsbury. It has been a challenging summer to get everything ready in time but our staff and communities have been marvellous with the work they have undertaken
We also have the added pressure of being filmed for the BBC2 series “Blooming Marvellous” to be shown next year and we hope that this will be an excellent opportunity to showcase our floral tradition as “the Town of Flowers”.
Vandals have already damaged several planters, tubs and barrels in the past few weeks by stripping plants from their containers.
Gary Farmer, Operations Manager for Shrewsbury Town Council said: “Our staff are always devastated to see damage caused to the wonderful displays they work so hard to maintain. We will be working with Police to identify the culprits and would encourage anyone who sees these acts of mindless vandalism on the planters to call 101 immediately.”
The results for the competition will be announced in September.
ENDS/