Towns scoop Heart of England in Bloom awards

Shrewsbury's Dingle won two awards

Two Shropshire towns have scooped multiple awards in the Heart of England in Bloom competition.

Shrewsbury came away with the gold award in the small city category, and the Dingle in the town's Quarry Park was recognised with an outstanding achievement award, and the Mike Garwood Memorial Trophy.

Oswestry won gold in the best large town section, with Cae Glas Park also winning Gold in the park awards.

Helen Ball, the Shrewsbury Town Clerk, said the accolades were welcomed after what she described as a "really hard summer".

"We had real hot dry spells, we had no real rain from May to about August... we got to the stage where we couldn't pump water out of the river because the pump was above the water levels," she said.

Instead, she said Shropshire Fire and Rescue helped by pumping water into the pool in the Dingle to protect the fish.

"We had a lot of hanging baskets that we had to replace because the water got so hot in the reservoirs that it just cooked the plants," Ms Ball added.

She said getting the gold award was "lovely" but the awards for the Dingle, which features some 50,000 plants each year, were the "icing on the cake".

"It [the Dingle] means a lot of things to a lot of people," she said.

"From people who live in the vicinity who don't have a garden themselves, they see it as their back garden... to people who just pop in for their lunch because it is that really quiet paradise... to tourists - we get a lot of tourists specifically to look at the flowers."

'We cheer up the community'

Natalie Bainbridge, Chair of Oswestry in Bloom, said the committee's work was just "cheering up the community and making everyone smile".

"The actual entering Heart of England in Bloom gives us a focus to actually get the town looking its best for the summer, so the judges come around for a three-hour tour and we piece together the best of Oswestry," she said.

"The town council obviously do an amazing job with the park and the hanging baskets and the planter displays, and Oswestry in Bloom just tot the other bits up as well, so we just take over planters and areas around town and make the best of them."

Ms Bainbridge was awarded the services to Heart of England in Bloom award, which she said was an honour.

Both towns will head to Brighton on Friday 31 October for the Britain in Bloom national awards ceremony.