Tewkesbury in Bloom

John brings us up to date with the latest news as volunteers prepare the town for its the biggest horticultural challenge to date.

John writes  “Now that Tewkesbury-in- Bloom is in the RHS National Finals, we get invited to more things. In January Brian Reeve and myself trundled our way up to Sheffield for a winners seminar - a kind of Premier League warm up session! As we left Tewkesbury at 6.00 am on one of the coldest mornings of the year - I think we needed warming up! Finally after endless hold ups on the M1 particularly, we arrived at the rather posh venue. 

“Most of the other participants were old hands - one had even been Champion of Champions - a bit awe inspiring, its like being the manager of Reading meeting Sir Alex Ferguson.  We had a few seminars which were really useful. One on promoting ourselves, one of appropriate planting ( slightly over my head! ) and one on organising the judging day.    Actually this was an area we were definitely leaders of the pack, Brian's portfolio and DVD were enviously viewed and commented on, even by old Champions, if not yet the Champion of Champions! We came away quite reassured.we were on the right tracks. There are things we need to do  such as deepen our links with the community - schools especially. It is vital too that we find more sponsors and beg more effectively for help from our Local Authorities - our impression was that we had less support  in this area than most other leading Bloom groups.  Most vital of all we need  to ensure that our judging  days are spectacularly good.  We came away totally confident that with the help of the community of Tewkesbury we will put up a really good showing.   Roll on the summer!”

Picture below shows Marina Court, the starting point for RHS judges