Wellington Wins Silver at South West in Bloom

10 Oct Wellington Wins Silver at South West in Bloom

Wellington Town Council is pleased to announce that Wellington has been awarded a Silver Award in the Portman Cup for South West in Bloom 2024.

South West in Bloom is part of Britain in Bloom, an initiative created by the Royal Horticultural Society to celebrate community gardening. This year was the first time that the Town Council led on the entry as this had in the past been managed by Somerset Council.

Mayor Janet Lloyd and Open Spaces Manager Darren Hill had the pleasure of attending the South West in Bloom Awards Ceremony in Bath on Tuesday 8^th October where they were proud to accept the Silver Award for Wellington.

In addition to our Silver Award we are very proud to announce that a number of our local community groups have also been recognised for their contributions. Most notably, the Basins Volunteer Group and Friends of Wellington Park received an RHS Level 5 Outstanding Award for the It’s Your neighbourhood Award. Transition Town Wellington and Swains Nature Reserve also received Level 4 Thriving Awards in the same category. We will be presenting these groups with their award certificates at our Environment Committee Meeting on Wednesday 23^rd October.

Darren Hill said, “I would like to sincerely thank everyone involved in the lead up and those who attended on the judging day, this is a team effort and our wonderful Community Groups and Volunteers are so valuable to Wellington. My personal thanks to Wellington Town Council and the team, Somerset Council Grounds Team, Dave Burge, The Community Payback team, the Friends of Wellington Park, Basins Volunteer Group, Friends of Swains Nature Reserve, Transition Town Wellington, and Riverside Plant Nurseries – you all do a fantastic job.

We are looking forward next year, when the Town Council has greater control and is able to implement improvement for the wider community to enjoy not just on judging day, but every day. Well done everyone!”

Mayor Janet Lloyd said, “I was honoured to attend the ceremony and see all the efforts that various town and groups have made, and we also gained some positive insight as to how we can improve our entries for 2025.It’s a pity that the judges completely missed the point of the living walls on the railings in the town centre. Although we want to make the planting attractive, the main reason for them being sited where they are is to alleviate the carbon monoxide emissions from traffic driving through the town.”