Upton welcomes Bloom delegates (From Malvern Gazette)

Upton welcomes Bloom delegates

4:00am Friday 19th September 2008 in News By Tarik Al Rasheed

FRESH from its triumphant showing at the Heart of England in Bloom Awards, Upton is preparing to welcome delegates from all over the region for the competition’s annual autumn seminar.

Whilst it is purely a coincidence that Upton is hosting the seminar after being named the Heart of England in Bloom overall winner, spokesman Jackie Surtees said group members would feel a “certain pride” as they welcome their peers from across the region.

“I think it will be quite nice for us to host the seminar having just won the whole competition,” she said. “Hopefully we will still have some of our floral displays on show around the town so others can come and see how they contributed to our success.”

The window of Upton’s Tourist Information Centre now carries a huge display celebrating Upton’s success, and Mrs Surtees said there had been a mood of celebration around the town as word of the triumph spread.

“Everybody is over the moon, and people keep coming up and congratulating us,” she said. “We still cannot believe it. We were quite confident that we would get a gold award, but then as they were listing the qualities of the overall winner we started to look at each other and slowly realised they were talking about Upton.”

The judges’ official comments from their visit to Upton have now been released. They praise a “phenomenal commitment from the whole community” and “environmental awareness of the highest standard”.

There were also favourable comments for the quality of planting throughout the town, the spotless streets, the involvement of local schools and the high quality of residential gardens included in the judging route.”

Upton hosts the Heart of England in Bloom Autumn Seminar in Memorial Hall on Thursday, October 16.

And on Wednesday (September 24) Upton in Bloom is once again going for gold when the results of this year’s national Britain in Bloom competition are announced. Find out how Upton gets on in next week’s Gazette and on this website.