The results of the East Midlands in Bloom competition were announced at a ceremony in Cleethorpes on September 9th 2009.  Newark's Bloom Committee were pleased to discover that they achieved a bronze award, the same as last year.

There was initial disappointment in the result as the Committee had hoped to achieve a higher award.  Many of the Judges recommendations from the previous year had been carried out:  involving more members of the community; engaging with school groups; better publicity; improved recycling and numerous other improvements.

Reading the judging report after the event however, revealed what many suspected would be the cause of the disappointing result - the good old British weather!  Judging day had taken place in early July, on a day when Newark suffered from torrential rain, causing the judges to effectively cut short their inspection route and only allowing them to see about 70% of the route.  This meant that Newark could only achieve 70% of its full potential!  If the full route had been visited, the judges' report confirmed the result would have been different.

George Wilkinson, Chairman of the Bloom Committee commented afterwards, "We actually achieved higher marks this year than last, only just missing the Silver category by a small margin.  If we had managed to visit the full route I am confident that we would have made the Silver category".

The Bloom Committee continues to meet throughout the year.  If you would like your school, business, community group or just yourself as an individual to be involved, please contact James Radley, the Town Council Environmental Services Manager on 01636 680340.