Saddleworth helps Oldham triumph again at Britain in Bloom 2014

Flowers at The Swan in Dobcross

Saddleworth villages have helped Oldham to scoop gold and the title of Best City at the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition.

The judges were wowed by their entry and awarded the borough the top prize at an awards ceremony held in Bristol that was attended by community gardening champions from across the country.

Oldham also received the RHS Britain in Bloom Horticulture Award for demonstrating the best horticultural practice throughout the entry.

This is the second time the borough has won Best City – in 2012  it triumphed at the first attempt.

Although Oldham is a town, entries to the Britain in Bloom ‘Best City’ category are based on the size of the electoral roll.

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, Oldham Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Co-operatives, said, said: “To win Best City against such stiff competition from Westminster, Aberdeen and Norwich is a real honour and shows our entry has been warmly welcomed by not only the whole community but also the RHS judges.

“These awards give everyone involved in Bloom and Grow a real sense of achievement and reflects the hard work, dedication and commitment from what has been a real co-operative project involving residents, schools and businesses.

The judges in Delph

“This is yet another example of Oldham’s growing regional and national reputation as a great place to live, work and visit.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time and made the effort to get involved so that we have been able to achieve such a fantastic result.”

The prestigious Best City award is the culmination of a year’s worth of work involving local businesses, residents and community groups without which we would never have been able to achieve such a result.

The theme for this year’s entry was “Gold” and our Bloom and Grow entry saw Oldham Council team up with Dr Kershaw’s Hospice to celebrate the Royton facility’s 25^th anniversary and the Royal Horticultural Society’s golden 50^th year.

Oldham town centre

The traditional centrepiece WOW bed, located in Market Place, shows giant balls of wool which represent anything that knits Oldham’s communities together from horticulture, growing, friendship, care, education, civic pride and the aim to make Oldham a better place for residents and visitors.

The WOW bed will now be transformed over the coming weeks into a Halloween spectacular, followed by a winter wonderland theme which will eventually include the Nativity.

This year’s winning route started at Lydgate and took in Uppermill, Dobcross, Delph, Grains Road (Bishops Park), Sholver, Heyside, Turf Lane, Royton (Shaw Road) before finally going down Rochdale Road into Oldham town centre.

Commenting on Oldham’s efforts, RHS judges Roger Burnett and Jim Buttress, said: “Oldham has got to be the entry others aspire to.  No stone has been left unturned in striving to achieve horticultural excellence in a sustainable manner through effective community participation.

“A superb example of what can be achieved in these challenging economic times by working with all partners. The underlying factor that shines out is the unbelievable community participation, a very worthy category and gold medal-winning entry.”

The borough now has to wait to see if it has won the Best City category in North West in Bloom 2014. The results will be announced on October 24 in Southport.

Dr Kershaw’s have also been nominated to receive an award for the first time in its own right in the Hospice category at those awards.

Dobcross have also been asked to enter the village into the NW in Bloom awards in 2015, which they have accepted.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

If you would like to share an interesting story, achievement, photo or something you just want to happily shout about please send it in an email to hello@saddleworthlife.com We'd ❤ to hear from you!!