Darlington preparing to wow Northumbria in Bloom judges

The town is taking part in the annual Northumbria in Bloom competition, where judges recognise, encourage, and reward community groups who work together to transform their village, town, or city through gardening.

Last year, the town was awarded a Silver Gilt in the ‘best city centre’ category. And this year council officials hope to go one better and bring home a gold award.

The council has entered into the following categories:

· Best city centre – town centre

· Best religious establishment - Atisha KMC Buddhist Centre

· Best park - South Park

· Best public house - The Tapas Bar

The town is taking part in the annual Northumbria in Bloom competition

Two Northumbria in Bloom judges visited Darlington in May and were guided around the town to assess the work local teams and partners do to make Darlington bloom.

The judges can’t give too much of an insight of what they thought of our entries, however, they did comment on how impressed they were with the trees planted in containers in the market square, and the use of QR technology on the labels and on the Discover Darlington trail.

The improvements to South Park, in particular the partnership work with the Friends of South Park and Street Champions, who volunteer their time to help keep our town and park clean, tidy, and at their best, were commended.

They mentioned they would like to see future partnership work to improve St Cuthbert's and riverside areas, continued annual wildflower mixtures and closer working with the river authorities, to keep the River Skerne clear of rubbish.

Jonathan Dulston, leader of the council, said: “Once again, our town will be on show, and we hope you will help us in our quest to strive for gold and put our town on the horticultural map.”

“No matter how big or small your garden, yarden, yard, communal piece of outdoor space - please enjoy keeping it tidy, clean, and cultivated.

“We are so grateful to the many people who volunteer their time to help make our town look beautiful, if we can all pull together to, tidy, weed, sweep, prune, do your bit, it could just help us bring home a gold!

“Help to prove Darlington is blooming with pride as well as a great place to live and to visit!”

James Buxton the Tapas bar general manager, said “I am delighted we have been chosen to enter the ‘best public house’ category in this prestigious annual competition, we love tending to our blooms to delight our customers and it’s great our floral efforts help the town and are rewarded – I wish everyone the very best of luck.”

The council held a photographic competition asking people to capture any fauna, flora, or wildlife along the riverside and the River Skerne and South park areas.

All entries will be used in an exhibition display when the judges visit, and some will be used in the council’s future marketing and social media.

Dozens of entries have been received and, Sarah Caldecott, Northern Echo photographer, was invited as our guest judge to choose her favourite and runner up.

Sarah said: “We received so many fantastic entries, which make it such a difficult job to choose a winner and runner up – but we will be revealing them very soon!”

“Thank you to all who have taken the time to enter – we have all loved seeing your great work.”

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