It's Gold again!
Alderley Edge in Bloom volunteers were awarded their third Gold award in a row today (Thursday, 20th October) at the RHS North West in Bloom awards ceremony at Bolton Wanderers Football Stadium.
Group Chair Leslie Cox commented "We were thrilled to achieve the gold standard and an amazing hat trick of gold medals in a row. Despite the challenges of post Covid, a drop off in the number of volunteers and trying to fundraise during difficult times we won through! The award is for all our volunteers who have worked tirelessly on fundraising, gardening and litter picking.
"Unlike many of the villages, towns and cities receiving all kinds of support from local authorities to achieve a similar award, we have done it mostly alone; doing nearly all the fundraising and work ourselves."
Back in August the judges were taken on a tour of the village starting at St Philip's Church with a visit to Ivygate, the park and Chorley Hall Lane Allotments where the judges enjoyed a pleasant pitstop in 'The Shed' with refreshments. The judges were very complimentary about the community spirit and quality of the plots.
The Bloom group have had a plot at Chorley Hall Lane for the last four years and the judges were so impressed with the site that they received an 'Outstanding' award in the 'It's Your Community' sub section of the awards for small groups, the highest accolade that they could receive.
Val Owen, Chair of Chorley Hall Lane Allotment Association said "It was such a wonderful occasion to represent our allotments and to be recognised for all the hard work our plot holders do. Not just for growing vegetables and flowers on their plots but for the community spirit in welcoming visitors to the site on May Fair day, for fund raising for East Cheshire Hospice, showing school children the beauty of home grown vegetables and so much more".
The next stop of the village tour was the Lydiat Lane Woodland Hedge which the judges marked as 'Thriving' in the 'Its Your Community awards section. The judges walked down London Road to see all the planter displays and the Waitrose Woodland before judging the station gardens as 'Outstanding' again in the 'It's Your Community " section of the competition.
Next was a trip to Peter Woollam's organic garden, always a judges favourite, followed by a visit to Castle Rock on the Edge before refreshments at The Edge Hotel.
With top awards for Alderley Edge in Bloom, The Chorley Hall Lane Allotments, the Lydiat Lane volunteers and the Alderley Edge Station Volunteer group, the judges were clearly impressed with Alderley Edge.
The group are always looking for new volunteers and funding. They are holding a wine tasting fundraising evening on Friday 18th November at Laithwaites for which a few tickets, priced £22.50, are available from Kelvin Briggs, please email [email protected] for details.
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A well deserved award.
In addition Lydiat Lane and Chorley Hall Lane Allotments were rewarded with great recognition awards.
This may encourage other village groups like Heyes Lane Allotments and Beech Lane Allotments to enter next years ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ sub section of the main ‘ RHS North West In Bloom’ competition.
It may appear that all is ‘rosy’ in the garden but the reality is we have suffered big style through Covid with an alarming reduction in active volunteers. We now have about 50% compared to pre-Covid.
It’s great to meet supporters on London Road who say ‘Well done, great job’ but we really need new volunteers to join us so we can continue to deliver quality displays around the village.
How about sparing an hour or so a week to join in? Perhaps you can help with us with funding? Unlike towns like Wilmslow we don’t receive direct Council grants.
Please don’t hesitate to contact our Chair, Leslie Cox if you can help.