RHS Announces UK Overall Winner of the Prestigious Britain in Bloom Competition 2023

Newcastle-under Lyme has been awarded RHS gold and the accolade of Overall Winner in the UK finals of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition – the UK’s biggest community gardening competition.

44 community gardening groups, who had all impressed their local judges the year before, were nominated to represent their region or nation in the UK Finals 2023. Newcastle-under-Lyme achieved a gold award in the Small City Category as well as Overall Winner.

The 12 category winners (listed in full below), from 44 villages, towns and cities, were: Aberdeen; Better Bankside; Brandon; Churchtown; Darlington; East Haven; Kinnesswood; Lytham; Newcastle-under-Lyme; Oswestry; Redbourn and St Saviour. Britain in Bloom involves over 3,000 community groups and hundreds of thousands of local volunteers who work year-round to keep their neighbourhoods green and thriving.

Amongst its many gardening initiatives, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in Staffordshire, was recognised for its contribution to helping the town to become carbon neutral through planting a commemorative forest of 850 lime trees as well as other native broadleaf trees. The group also impressed the judges with the innovative and creative ways they worked with local groups, residents and school children to plant trees across the borough – with a ‘treetotalizer’ keeping a tally of 9,995 trees planted to date.

Darren Share, Chair of the RHS Britain in Bloom judges, said: “Newcastle-under-Lyme showed great vision and purpose. Concern for the environment and encouraging wildlife is at the heart of everything they do. We judge groups according to horticulture, environmental and community engagement criteria and the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme scored highly across all three areas ”

In addition to being awarded a gold, silver gilt, silver or bronze medal, groups compete in categories including town, village and Business Improvement District, to be named overall category winners, and can be nominated for a series of discretionary awards by a panel of judges.

Darren Share, Chair of the RHS Britain in Bloom judges, added: “Our congratulations go to all the RHS Britain in Bloom finalists for their incredible commitment and the difference their hard work makes to their communities. Groups were passionate and innovative, they showed how important it is for green space and environmental projects to be at the heart of community life.”

Other notable awards include:

• Kinnesswood in Bloom, Scotland, recognised as the winner of the Discretionary Award for Children and Young People’s Participation. They impressed the judges with their partnership with Portmoak Primary School including their recent projects creating a school pond, wooden wigwams, willow tunnel and planting 135 fruit trees.
• Abergavenny, Wales won the Sustainable Gardening Award. All the groups demonstrated plant friendly gardening, but Abergavenny really stood out with their holistic approach, which included inter-generational projects to get everyone in the community involved, citizen science, and sharing their learning and skills.

Rachel de Thame, gardener and broadcaster, presenting the awards, commented: “Britain in Bloom gardening groups give selflessly of their time and energy to make their communities better for everyone to enjoy. From engaging with young people, helping to grow food for those in need or providing plant displays to inspire a sense of pride. These groups are the heroes of our villages, towns and cities and keep our country blooming.”

Groups were presented with certificates and  trophies at the RHS Britain in Bloom 2023 awards ceremony, held in London, and unveiled to the public on BBC’s The One Show.

Full results of the RHS Britain in Bloom 2023 UK Finals can be found at https://www.rhs.org.uk/get-involved/community-gardening/news/articles/bloom-awards-results.