Yorkshire wins glut of Britain in Bloom gardening awards

The region’s communities won four gold and four silver prizes in the country’s biggest gardening competition, as well as a number of discretionary awards.

Leeds and Harrogate were both awarded gold in the large and small city categories, respectively.

The village of Spofforth in North Yorkshire and the urban community of Kippax, just outside Leeds, also won gold as well as coming joint top of their categories.

Silver gilt awards went to Knaresborough and Addingham, near Ilkley, in the large and small town categories, respectively.

Filey also won a silver gilt award in the small coastal resort section, as did Hutton Cranswick in East Yorkshire in the large village category.

St George’s Crypt, a charity that helps homeless people in Leeds, was the joint winner of the Britain in Bloom Young People’s Award.

Most young people who stay at the shelter are expected to help maintain the grounds.

Chief executive Chris Fields said: “Getting back to nature really suits certain individuals, who wouldn’t benefit from sitting in a room with a group of people talking about their problems. For addicts, especially, it can be helpful, because they can measure their progress against the growth of the plants and the passing of the seasons.”

Kippax in Bloom volunteer Pat Samy won a community champion prize while the group took home the Conservation and Wildlife Award. Marion Wright, of Filey in Bloom, was also named a community champion.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said he was delighted at the haul.

“It’s terrific not just for the people who live in Yorkshire but the millions who visit every year. It all helps to make Yorkshire a top visitor destination,” he said.

More than 1,100 communities entered this year’s competition, run annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and finalists were visited by judges throughout July and August.

Roger Burnett, chairman of the judging panel, said it had been a “privilege and pleasure” to visit Britain’s most environmentally-aware communities and paid tribute to their “hardworking and resilient” volunteers.

“Whatever’s thrown at them, whether it’s a hosepipe ban or flooding, they’ll find a way around it,” he said.