Heywood in Bloom

Some of our team were around the town today removing the dead flowers to make way for new ones and keep our planters looking bright and vibrant. Our theme this year was a riot of colour and I think we have got that. We also had some of our first crops from the allotment with lots more to come.

On 25 June, Heywood in Bloom welcomed the judges from North West in Bloom for the main judging day of this year's competition. The judges spent the day touring some of the town's most important green spaces and environmental projects, visiting our entries in the Large Town, Town Centre, Large Park and Business Park categories. The tour included visits to: Queen's Park Hopwood Park Heywood Distribution Park Heywood Town Centre The Picture Frame Junction 19 The day showcased th

A massive thank you to all our volunteers, partners and sponsors for the work you have done in helping us to prepare for the judging of Heywood In Bloom this year. The final touches are now being added ready for the judges visiting on Thursday, and the latest addition has been the addition of the insignia and logo to finish the improvements to the Cptn Bill Boat. A big thankyou to Isla and to to our sponsors at Fleet Grafix Ltd in Heywood for both this and also for the insi

It’s been a very busy week for the HIB volunteers. Monday the large greenhouse at the allotment was planted with tomatoes, cucumber, melon, courgette, aubergine and basil. Tuesday was at the allotment again when we planted runner and French beans, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels, started forming a path across the bottom of the banking and did lots of weeding. Wednesday the blue grass (sea) and daisies (sea spray) were planted around the boat. Thursday the bed around the pi

When we started work on the Cptn Bill Boat this year we had a lot of discussions about how fantastic if would be if we could create the impression of it being in water, with foam both behind it and in front. The council gardener kindly cut an edge out around the base of the boat into which we have planted blue-grass and daisies to give exactly that effect. With the weeds cleared, the new planting complete, and the paint applied, the boat is looking better than ever, and when

We are starting to get our town centre planting ready for summer. During their session last Wednesday the Ed for All students went into the local community, where they worked together to collect planters from Heywood Library and St Luke’s Church, bringing them back to the allotment ready to be repotted and transformed into beautiful new flower displays to brighten up the town. Projects like this are such a powerful example of Preparation for Adulthood in action, developing te

We have taken on a new initiative this year and are supporting Trinity Church in turning their garden area into a welcoming spot full of flowers. They have already built some raised beds and today we had a fantastic group of volunteers from Wincanton who despite the rain dug some small beds and planted fruit trees and also dug out a long bed which will be filled with flowers over time. The day was filled with laughter and friendship, a great demonstration of what can be achi

We are now stepping into our busiest time of year so we’re very pleased today to welcome Jo our newest volunteer to our team. Jo got stuck in with us this morning giving the boat a second coat of its new red paint. We also got the worst of the weeds out and started preparing the ground around it ready for the blue grass to go in. We rounded the morning off with some delicious cake baked for us by Isla. Our friends from Linkability continue to do great work every Thursday at t

We have lots of new and exciting projects within Heywood in Bloom this year. 1. We have decided to give Captain Bills boat in the town centre a revamp. Work started last night and she has gone from green to bright red. Further work will be done on Saturday so if you see us please stop for a chat or toot your horn as you are passing. 2. We are working with Trinity Church to build on the work they have already started to develop a community garden. We will be there next Wednesd

Heywood in Bloom have looked after the BT garden site for 10 years and this year we had plans to develop it further. Prior to starting we did the right thing and contacted BT who own the site to ensure they were happy with our plans. Sadly this has had completely the opposite result and their response to us is below ‘Unfortunately, due to the size of its operational estate (with c.5,500 exchanges) BT is unable to consider requests by third parties to carry out activities such

The judging may be over, the awards have been made but your HIB team are still working hard to ensure we will have some beautiful flowers to enjoy around the town early next year. Over the last week we have planted 1500 mixed bulbs. Some have gone into the saddle back planters at the library and the church along with some winter bedding plants. Also bulbs and winter bedding have gone into the planters outside the charity shop. Today there was a big push at BT gardens with lot

Day 2 at the North West in Bloom awards, today was the In Bloom awards. These are generally collaborative efforts between In Bloom groups, Friends of groups and local councils. Heywoods awards are Friends of Queens Park - Large Park Category - Gold Hopwood Park - Small Park Category -Silver Gilt Heywood Town Centre - Town Centre Category - Gold Heywood Town - Large Town Category - Gold Our partners at Heywood Distribution Park also received a Gold Award in the Large Industri

Today 4 of us spent an hour in the sunshine at the picture frame tidying up the bed around the frame and planting some more perennial plants ready for next year.