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Bootle celebrates second In Bloom gold award – November 2024

Bootle celebrates second In Bloom gold award – November 2024

Community gardeners in Bootle are celebrating after the town landed a gold award for the second year in succession in one of the region’s top ‘green’ competitions.

Judges of the urban category of the Royal Horticultural Society North West In Bloom event honoured Bootle’s fifth entry in the prestigious competition following a gold, two silvers and a bronze in previous years.

The results were announced at the annual North West In Bloom awards ceremony in Bolton, where Bootle also picked up a second award as Best Urban Community.

The In Bloom event aims to inspire residents to make positive changes to their local area through horticultural, environmental and community action.

Bootle’s In Bloom entry is led by local charity and social enterprise Regenerus via its Taking Root in Bootle project, which involves local growing organisations, residents, businesses and Sefton Council working together to green up the town.

Ruth Livesey of Regenerus explained: “We know that we are stronger when we work together, and that when we all look after our own little part of Bootle we can achieve big results for the town as a whole.”

The role of Regenerus and Taking Root in Bootle includes organising meetings, helping with planning, co-ordination of the growing in terms of where and when and trying to make limited financial resources go as far as they can.

Meanwhile throughout the year volunteer community growers meet for a few hours every Friday – ‘the Friday Tidy’ – to work on a different site each week.

The results of their efforts were evident on the route taken by the In Bloom judges in the summer.

This included amazing community gardens where food growing and flowers exist beautifully together, street corners where volunteers have greened up their local area, eye-catching planters and former grotspots where wildflower patches now grow on rubble.

Ruth Livesey added: “Everyone involved with Bootle In Bloom is delighted to have won a second gold award in this prestigious event.

“While there is still a lot of work to be done we are very proud of the journey we have made since 2019, and the impact our efforts have had on the way the town looks.

“Quite simply Bootle is a greener place because of the In Bloom entry and the work of Taking Root in Bootle, and our streets are cleaner and brighter as a result.”