Dazzling gold display at North West in Bloom Awards

The borough of Rochdale has pulled it out of the bag yet again in this year’s North West in Bloom Awards after judges deemed floral displays and outstanding parks the pick of the bunch.

After what can only be described as a tough year, the council and community volunteers were back scooping a very impressive 16 gold awards across the borough, presented by Bernard Pendleton, chairman of North West in Bloom at an awards ceremony at No1 Riverside, Rochdale on Thursday 4 November. 

Heywood collected 5 of these, which included a gold medal for ‘town centre’. Heywood in Bloom group took the award for ‘large town’ and the Friends’ of Queen’s Park took gold for best ‘large park’. An extra surprise was a well-deserved overall award for ‘best feature in a public place’.

The judges were impressed by the centre of Heywood, including the memorial gardens and recently upgraded space outside the Civic and Phoenix centres. The Old Police Station and Business Centre also took gold in the ‘small commercial’ category, with gold again awarded to Heywood Distribution Park in the ‘large commercial' category.

Other accolades included 8 gold medals across Rochdale, Pennines and Norden, with Rochdale also claiming gold in the ‘town centre’ category.

The Rochdale in Bloom group were judged gold winners for the best ‘small city’, alongside Middleton in Bloom who achieved a gold medal in the same category, with more awards being announced for Middleton in the coming days. Rochdale in Bloom also achieved the ‘best town centre’ in the North West.

A new entry this year saw judges visit five Rochdale mosques for the Masjids in Bloom initiative. Supported by Rochdale Council of Mosques, the five masjids – Neeli, Central, Golden, Jalalia and Bilal were visited with the Bilal mosque taking top spot after judges were wowed by the attention to detail, environmental efforts and splash of colour.

A special trophy for outstanding contribution was presented for the very first time to Mr Asrar Ul-Haq, from the Amaani Initiative. The Bill Blackledge MBE Chairman’s Award was presented to him in recognition for his work in the local community and Masjids in Bloom.

Councillor Billy Sheerin and Imran Aslam also were awarded ‘outstanding contribution to North West in Bloom’.

The Baum pub in Rochdale and Nutter’s restaurant won gold for the ‘small accommodation’ award. Healey Dell Heritage Centre and Tea Rooms took the gold top spot for ‘small tourist attraction’ and Norden’s Jubilee Park claimed gold in the best ‘pocket park’ category again.

Norden in Bloom, which entered as a stand-alone village this year, captivated visiting judges claiming a ‘best newcomer’ award and a gold medal for ‘large village’, which can only mean bigger things to come for 2022.

There were also awards for delightful displays and high levels of maintenance at Denehurst Park, taking a silver gilt award in the ‘large park’ category. Kirkholt also took a silver gilt in the ‘urban community’ award, and Stoney Hill community wildlife area took the best 'biodiversity award'.

Zen Internet took gold for ‘best small industrial park’, and local resident Luca Higginson won the ‘young bloomer of the year’ prize. 

Councillor Liam O’Rourke, cabinet member for the environment, said: “This was another top-class triumph for our brilliant In Bloom groups and our hard-working teams who all deserve this ultimate recognition. They have literally pulled out all the stops even through recent tough times to still bring this haul of gold medals and additional entries this year.
“What a credit these blooming amazing community groups are, working alongside the council to achieve such high standards. This collaborative success, working with schools, resident groups and local businesses has meant we continue to be a borough to be proud of, and I thank every single person who has contributed to this outstanding victory.”