Town wins gold at Britain in Bloom competition
A Gloucestershire town has fought off some very tough and worthy competitors to receive a national horticultural award. Stonehouse In Bloom (SIB) are Gold Award winners and Best Small Town in the UK at the Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom competition as 52 finalists from across the UK competed in 11 categories from Small Village, City, Coastal and Urban Community.
Some of the SIB team headed up to the awards ceremony at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester to get recognition from horticulturalist, author and TV presenter Frances Tophill. Each of the 17 Bloom Regions and Nations, which run individual Bloom competitions, nominate the highest-performing entries to compete in the UK finals and the Stonehouse group's efforts were judged according to a criteria that scores commitment to improving the environment, community engagement and horticultural excellence.
Stonehouse excelled in each and having consistently won Gold and Best Town at the regional Heart of England in Bloom competition in recent years, to get a national award now cements years of hard work and commitment by the community. The RHS Britain in Bloom judges said: “The entire community of Stonehouse has come together to foster a sense of professionalism and pride.”
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Chair of SIB, Pam Swain, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this result not only for the Stonehouse in Bloom team, but for all the other groups in the community who have worked with us. We started with just a small group and now we work with the Town Council, Cotswold Canals Trust, Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership, Hopelands and Park Federation Schools, Moreton Hill Care Centre, Stonehouse Court Hotel, GWR, Network Rail, Arboricultural Association to name a few, High Street businesses, and many more organisations."
Pam adds: "There is a real sense of pride in our town and huge support across the local community and wider Stroud District”.
As part of Stonehouse in Bloom 2024, the town's community Arboretum was awarded awarded international accreditation and the group were Highly Commended in the Stonehouse Town Council Civic Awards.
Stonehouse in Bloom won’t be resting on their gardening laurels, building on their national win they have many future plans, including seeking a larger piece of land to create a bigger Community Garden where they will have room to welcome a greater number of community volunteers, after making contact with a Social Prescribing Lead in the town. This is following the success of their Community Garden at the station used by Building Circles, a small Gloucestershire Charity that enables adults with learning disabilities to live more active lives, with greater choice and opportunity.
The group also want to continue and build upon the existing partnerships that they have that are focused on the canal regeneration and hope to further protect and enhance wildlife, promote the canal’s wellbeing and health benefits as well as promote Stonehouse as a tourism destination, all whilst helping to secure it’s future prosperity for all.