Spring Judging for Yorkshire In Bloom

Judges in this year's Yorkshire In Bloom competition have been inspecting floral displays in Batley and Dewsbury.

They started out in Dewsbury at Crow Nest Park where several projects are underway, including a wild flower garden and an innovative green gym comprising an out door running track surrounded by landscaped workout equipment.

From there the judges visited the Courtyard project at Dewsbury College before heading in to town to look at the stunning floral displays in the town centre.

They visited the new floral feature on the ring road which has been sponsored by the Dewsbury Rotary Club and the proposed Riverside Walk which has been instigated by the Kirklees Friends of the Environment and then took lunch at Dewsbury Minster.

After lunch, the judges visited Batley. Here they looked at the proposed new floral feature on Bradford Road (outside the bus station), the Parish Church grounds as well as the stunning formal planting in Batley memorial Gardens.

We then took them to Batley Cemetery which has seen much improvement in recent years thanks to the efforts of Environment Concern.

Wilton Park was the final port of call in Batley where the judges were shown the Enchanted Forest area, which is a delightful area of the woodland which has been created specifically to educate and inspire the imagination of children. We walked through the woodland area down into the formal area of the park where the planting was looking radiant.

Also included in the spring's portfolio for both towns were projects undertaken by local schools to include; Boothroyd Junior and Infants, Earlsheaton Technical College, Brownhill Junior and Infants and Batley Girls High School.

The judges were also asked to judge flowerbed design competitions for both towns. In Dewsbury we asked children to design a heritage flowerbed for Crow Nest Park and in Batley a heritage flowerbed for the entrance driveway and a butterfly flowerbed for the grounds of Bagshaw Museum. The winning entries will be planted in time for the judge's return in July for the summer judging.