Britain in Bloom

RHS Britain in Bloom is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France (now Conseil national de villes et villages fleuris), which since 1959 has promoted the annual Concours des villes et villages fleuris. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) since 2002.
The competition is entered by the communities of towns, villages and cities. Different categories exist for various sizes of settlements. Groups are assessed for their achievements in three core pillars: Horticultural Excellence; Environmental Responsibility; and Community Participation.
Over 1,600 communities around the UK enter each year, participating in their local region's "in Bloom" campaign. From these regional competitions, roughly 80 communities are selected to enter the national Finals of RHS Britain in Bloom.
It is a popular campaign, estimated to involve more than 200,000 volunteers in cleaning up and greening up their local area.
Since 2002, the awards have been based on the Royal Horticultural Society's medal standards of Gold, Silver Gilt, Silver and Bronze; the winner is the settlement judged to have most successfully met the rigorous judging criteria. Judging at the regional stage takes place around June/ July; judging for the national stage takes place in August. The results for the UK Finals are announced in September/ October. The competition covers the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Floral displays play an important part in the contest, but the "Bloom" title is now, perhaps, misleading: in recent years the competition has increasingly assessed how all sectors of the local community are managing their local environment.
In 2006, the RHS introduced the Neighbourhood Awards (now the It's Your Neighbourhood campaign), a grassroots sister campaign to Bloom, supporting smaller, volunteer-led community groups focused on improving their immediate environment.
The history of the 'Bloom', as it is colloquially referred to, began in 1963 when Roy Hay MBE, a horticultural journalist, went on holiday to France during the Fleurissement de France and was enthralled by seeing the country "filled to overflowing with flowers, shrubs and trees all in full bloom". His enquiries revealed that President de Gaulle had given orders to brighten up the country and the French Tourist Authority had set up the Fleurissement de France in 1959 (now called Concours des villes et villages fleuris). Hay was so impressed that he approached the British Tourist Authority (BTA), and he and Len Lickorish, then Director General of the BTA, set up a committee to run a British version, "Britain in Bloom". It was piloted by the British Tourist Authority in 1963 (Lewisham being part of that pilot), and went national in 1964.
Many organisations were invited to help, including: The Automobile Association; London Tourist Board; National Farmers' Union; London Parks; Institute of Parks and Recreation Administration; National Association of Rural Communities; Royal Horticultural Society; Royal Automobile Club; The Tourist Boards of England, Scotland and Wales; The National Federation of Women's Institutes; Civic Trust; Keep Britain Tidy Group; the Flowers and Plants Council; The Horticultural Trades Association; The British Hotels and Restaurants Association; The Society of Town Clerks; Townswomen's Guild and British Airways. Despite this impressive list, Roy Hay later reflected that the initial reaction of the horticultural trade and local authorities was lukewarm.
Nevertheless, regional committees were quickly formed, and in 1964 Bath became the first national winner. From 1964 to 1969 inclusive there was an overall national winner. From 1970, however, the competition was divided up into a range of categories, because of the difficulty of comparing settlements of different sizes fairly.
The British Tourist Authority managed the competition until 1983 when the Government Department sponsoring the BTA felt that it should relinquish the responsibility. The Tidy Britain Group (the group responsible for the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, now known as EnCams) took over; it already had a long association with the competition. To mark the changeover, 1983 was celebrated as "Beautiful Britain in Bloom Year". Sir Lawrie Barratt of Barratt Developments expressed his support to the Tidy Britain Group for the competition and provided sponsorship until 1989.
More categories and awards were added, in part reflecting a greater range of settlements, but also to recognise other elements of horticulture, including landscaping, and also to recognise the strenuous efforts to beautify the urban areas of the larger cities. McDonald's began sponsoring the competition from 1990, which led to focus on littering behaviour and the implementation of a Children's Painting Competition Calendar. In 2001, the event was organised jointly by EnCams and the Royal Horticultural Society, and from November 2001 the RHS took full control as the organising body of Britain in Bloom.
In 2017, after winning Britain in Bloom Champion of Champions, Elswick admitted to having previously cheated in the competition three years earlier. The volunteers engaged a specialist company to design a display which came in ready assembled trays.
The competition currently has twelve entry categories, most of which are determined by population size. Within each category, similarly sized communities compete across a spectrum of horticultural endeavour, community participation and environmental responsibility, which includes dealing with issues of litter, graffiti and vandalism.
RHS Britain in Bloom encompasses 18 Regions/ Nations (12 English regions, as well as Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey).
Judging takes place over two years in two stages:
Details to 1990 from Graham Ashworth CBE, Britain in Bloom, The Tidy Britain Group (Wigan:1991)
From the winners and finalists of RHS Britain in Bloom, entries are picked to represent Britain in international competitions such as the Entente Florale.
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There are 18 Regions/ Nations "in Bloom", each of which coordinate regional campaigns in their area. The regions of the UK and Crown dependencies used in the competition are (with reference to ceremonial counties and government office regions):
RHS It's Your Neighbourhood is part of the wider RHS Britain in Bloom initiative, helping volunteer-led groups to improve their local area. Any group can take part, as long as it is volunteer-led and involved in hands-on community gardening. It should also be working with the community for the benefit of the community. Participating groups care for all sorts of spaces - from local parks and gardens, to odd grot-spots which have been transformed and shared residential spaces or alleyways.
The campaign was launched by the RHS in 2006 to support grassroots community gardening and there are currently more than 1,300 registered groups.
The initiative works around the same three pillars of assessment as RHS Britain in Bloom: Community Participation, Gardening Achievement and Environmental Responsibility; however, it is not a competitive campaign. Participating groups receive an annual visit from an It's Your Neighbourhood assessor, who provides feedback and tips for how to develop projects, and each group receives a certificate of achievement from the RHS.
It's Your Neighbourhood is free to enter and open to groups of all sizes.
Winning a category within Britain in Bloom at a national or even regional level has proved to be a source of considerable civic pride for the towns, cities and villages involved. Many of the authorities of the winning locations do advertise their achievements on signs within, or more predominantly on the outskirts of their settlement. One journalist stated that "Since Britain In Bloom began in 1963 … nothing has pleased town councillors more than to hammer up a sign at the outskirts of their kingdom trumpeting superiority to incoming visitors… Few events provide a sterner test of civic pride." Examples include Garstang where the sign that leads to the high street at the heart of the town says, above the name "Garstang", Britain In Bloom Small Town – Gold Award Winners 2002, 2005, and "Invitation Finalists to Champion of Champions 2006", or Guildford, which advertises its past triumph in the Town category on its welcome signs.