Mirfield welcomes Britain in Bloom judges in bid to be crowned UK’s best town

Formed in November 2017 by chairman Ruth Edwards, the Mirfield in Bloom group has gone from strength to strength and now promises to “put Mirfield on the map” by representing the county in this year's horticultural showcase.

Because of the group's successes prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, it has been given the honour of representing Yorkshire in this year’s Britain in Bloom competition.

Judges Ann Holland and Geraldine King will arrive at St Mary’s Church, on Church Lane, today at 8.45am before setting off on a three-hour tour of the town.

The tour will include visits to the Sunnybank Neighbourhood, Greenside, Dunbottle Lane, Pinfold Close, Huddersfield Road Library, Mirfield Co-op, the train station and many other sites across Mirfield.

After the tour, the judges will then head back to St Mary’s Church where they will meet Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Sofia Buncy, The Mayor of Kirklees Coun Masood Ahmed, Dewsbury Mark Eastwood MP, Mirfield Town Councillors, Rev Helen Butler, Yorkshire in Bloom trustee Joy Smith and the Mirfield in Bloom committee and guests.

Christine Sykes, Mirfield in Bloom volunteer and secretary, said: “The residents have more respect, pride and are owning the town.

“Neighbours are becoming friends. Lots of different community groups are involved with us and we are trying to show the judges this.

“The neighbourhoods are owning it. For example, the Sunnybank neighbourhood had the idea of putting planters under the road signs and now the rest of the town has taken it up.

“Our polytunnel we use as a classroom for the uniformed organisations, we are doing a soil experiment with the Cubs, we do a lot of recycling, we do three litter picks a year, we make the composters out of pallets and we keep all our plastics and take that down to Westfields Nursery for them to reuse.

“We do other things, it's not just flowers.

“Everybody wants the best for us and we get so many lovely comments on our Facebook page and Mirfield Matters - it makes it worthwhile.

“Ruth really does empower us all to do the best we can, which is what we do.

“This will put Mirfield on the map.

“Thank you to everybody for their support, it wouldn't have been worth doing it without it.

“Competitions aside, we are doing it for Mirfield because we love where we live.”

As well as representing Yorkshire in Britain of Bloom, the group will also officially receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, which it won back in June as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations..

The crystal award will be presented to the group at 12.45pm at St Mary's Church by the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson.

Mirfield in Bloom was one of 244 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year.