Blackburn in Bloom with NHS Rainbow

The judging for this year’s Britain in Bloom awards may have been cancelled, but this hasn’t stopped Blackburn’s dedicated gardeners working hard to make sure our town centre still looks its best.

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council gardeners, Ian Leach and Tony Farrell have won North West Britain in Bloom Gold three years in a row, but this year’s competition was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Their ambitious plans for 2020’s floral displays had to be massively scaled back, as they didn’t know if they would be needed to help deliver other key services across the borough.

Together with their new apprentice Ronan Chambers, the team have work throughout the lockdown to make sure the town’s green spaces were maintained and even managed to create a new floral rainbow at Cathedral Square to show their appreciation for NHS workers.

Councillor Riley said:

It’s important that we make sure the town centre is safe, clean and attractive for visitors and the gardeners play a big part. This year’s floral displays are a credit to their hard work and the new rainbow is a fantastic tribute to the NHS.”

The team, who were also nominated for the National Britain in Bloom finals hope the competition will resume next year and will once again be aiming to secure Gold.