Mansfield is looking bloomin' lovely at this time of year!

Last year, Mansfield was handed a silver gilt award in the prestigious East Midlands In Bloom competition. Now it is eyeing a gold medal after the judges were given a tour of the district for the 2017 contest, the result of which will be announced in September.

“The judges saw some of the great work and projects taking place across Mansfield in our parks and open spaces,” said Coun Andrew Tristram, of Mansfield District Council. “I hope that all the hard work and dedication shown by everyone involved, from council staff and schoolchildren to the excellent friends and community groups, will be rewarded.”

Judges Sharon Sutton and Diane Moore were welcomed by the council’s parks team and visited allotments, community gardens and nature reserves, as well as parks, before being taken around the town centre.

During their whistle-stop tour, they also met residents from Vale Court, volunteers from Maun Conservation Group and youngsters at King Edward Primary School, who had created collages using flowers and leaves at a nature reserve. They called in to Mansfield Woodhouse too to see Longyards allotments and St Edmund’s Church Community Orchard.

Diane said: “I thank everyone involved for their hard work. We thoroughly enjoyed speaking to the community groups and can appreciate the amount of effort that has gone in.”