Green fingered gardeners in Linlithgow are celebrating after their hard work paid off with a gold medal the prestigious Britain in Bloom competition.
Volunteers from Burgh Beautiful Linlithgow worked hard to prepare the town for the UK’s biggest gardening competition, which was judged over the summer.
And at an awards ceremony at the headquarters of the Royal Horticultural Society in Westminster, London, representatives from the group received their award, coming a close second to the overall winners of the prestigious competition.
Burgh Beautiful convenor Ron Smith, said: “A massive credit to all of our volunteers and the wider community who work so hard to make Linlithgow beautiful, not only for the judges but to give pleasure to our townspeople and visitors, all year round.
“We came a close second to Amersham in Buckinghamshire, which won the Town category and the overall Britain in Bloom prize – so I think we did pretty well all told.
“And at a judges surgery the high quality of our entry was commended, while advice was given on how we can come back better and stronger next year.
“We were delighted to see North Berwick in Bloom, the only other Scottish finalist, win the Coastal category and offer them huge congratulations.”
Linlithgow Burgh Beautiful was one of 46 community gardening groups presenting work to Bloom judges in 2022, who marked according to strengthened environmental criteria including sustainability and planet-friendly gardening techniques.
Britain in Bloom is recognised as a symbol of excellence in community gardening, strong community spirit and pride of place, and returned in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Linlithgow was one of five finalists this year in the Town category.
Burgh Beautiful Linlithgow has around 100 volunteers who give up to 16,000 hours of their time over the year to care for the Royal Burgh, working with local partners to make the town look its best.
The group was established in 2004 and now tends to around 124 hanging baskets, 95 planters/barrels and 35 flowerbeds.
It plants around 20,000 plants over the summer, and a further 8,400 plants in the winter and spring.
The group has won a number of awards, taking Gold and winning the Town category in Britain in Bloom 2018. Ron Smith also won a Community Champion award from the Royal Horticultural Society.
In 2021, Burgh Beautiful received a Gold award in the Beautiful Scotland competition, and the Visit Scotland Award for Tourism and a discretionary award
for excellence in community horticulture.
Juliette Camburn, Community Projects Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We are delighted that Burgh Beautiful Linlithgow is bringing home Gold from the 2022 RHS Britain in Bloom finals.
“This is a massive achievement and presents another opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the volunteers who make a significant contribution towards helping to improve their local environment. We love their commitment to keeping their part of Scotland beautiful and would like to thank them for all they do.”
Now in its 58th year, the nationwide competition pits rural villages, urban areas and city centres against one another across a range of criteria that includes horticultural know-how, community engagement, efforts to bolster biodiversity and climate change adaptation. All entrants were visited by a team of RHS national judges in August.
Further information about Beautiful Scotland and how to take part can be found at: www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/beautifulscotland
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