The Yorkshire in Bloom awards, which took place on Tuesday 16 September, have proven to be a ‘blooming’ success for the Harrogate district with three category wins, four Discretionary Yorkshire Rose Award Winners and 15 Medals awarded across the district.
The following towns and villages took the following category wins and awards:
- Village: Spofforth – Gold Medal and category winner
- Urban Community: Starbeck – Gold Medal and category winner.
- Large Town/Small City (12,001 to 35,000 population): Knaresborough – Gold Medal and category winner.
Councillor Phil Ireland, Harrogate Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and External Affairs was delighted with the district’s success: Once again, our borough has received wide ranging recognition at the Yorkshire in Bloom Awards.
The awards do not only showcase the best floral displays across Yorkshire, they also recognise the hard work and dedication of the volunteers, businesses, school children, community groups, and other organisations who help create these eye-catching horticultural designs.
I would also like to thank the council’s parks and street cleansing teams – from the staff in the office who plan the flower beds, to the nursery staff that grow the plants, the individuals who keep our district tidy and the admin team who help make it all possible.
We are very lucky to be able to work with such dedicated individuals and communities and everyone who has been involved should be commended. Their efforts really bring the villages and towns in the district to life and add a wonderful splash of colour. Residents of the district must feel lucky to live in such a vibrant place, while visitors must feel envious that they do not wake up everyday in such a beautiful part of the world.
The district performed extremely well across a wide range of Yorkshire in Bloom awards gaining two Platinum Medals; seven Gold Medals; five Silver Gilt Medals and one Silver Medal as follows:
- Village: Kirkby Malzeard – Silver Gilt Medal.
- Public, Private and Charitable Establishment: Knaresborough House – Gold Medal: Audley Court Estates Limited, Harrogate – Silver
- Gilt Medal: HORTICAP, Harrogate – Silver Gilt Medal: Swan Court, Harrogate – Silver Medal.
- Large Hotels: Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate – Gold Medal: Nidd Hall Hotel, Knaresborough – Silver Gilt Medal.
- Visitor Attractions: – Knaresborough Castle – Gold Medal: Ripon Racecourse – Gold Medal.
- Open Spaces – Friends of groups for Parks, Small Spaces, Churchyards: Ginny Greenholes, Spofforth – Platinum Medal: Spofforth
- Millennium Garden – Platinum Medal.
- Harrogate Flower Show Young Peoples Award: Moorside Infant School, Ripon – Silver Gilt Medal.
- RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood: Badger Hill, Knaresborough – Thriving: Ripon Workhouse Garden – Thriving: Starbeck Methodist
- Church – Developing: Woodfield Millennium Green, Harrogate – Developing: Woodlands Community Garden, Harrogate – Improving.
In addition, the region picked up four Discretionary Yorkshire Rose Awards as follows:
- Tourism Award: Knaresborough.
- Community Award Winner Large Groups: Spofforth and Starbeck.
- Memorial Award Joint Winner: Knaresborough (shared with Grenoside, South Yorkshire).
Yorkshire in Bloom also presented Certificates of Achievement to Knaresborough, Kirkby Malzeard and Starbeck for the specially created features to mark the Tour de France Grand Départ, and Spofforth for its displays commemorating World War 1.
Christine Stewart, Co-ordinator of Starbeck in Bloom said: We are absolutely thrilled. The community works extremely hard all year round and it is wonderful to receive a Gold Medal for our efforts.
Being a category winner is a real feather in the cap and receiving a special commendation for the community is simply the icing on the cake. It is a real honour for Starbeck to have been singled out for praise by the judges.
I would like to thank every single person who has helped – from picking up a piece of litter to planting flowers, without your help this wouldn’t have been possible.
