Heart of England in Bloom

Whittington & Fisherwick won its fifth successive gold award in the Heart of England in Bloom competition. In 2024 we also topped the regional ‘Large Village’ category for the first time. The region includes Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, plus Birmingham and the rest of the conurbation as well as Stoke-on-Trent.

Heart of England in Bloom is one of 17 annual regional competitions organised across the UK by the Royal Horticultural Society. Judges assess each in terms of their commitment to improving the local environment, community engagement and horticultural excellence. Whittington and Fisherwick’s entry has been led over six years now by WFEG (Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group) supported by the Parish Council.

The judges commented: Whittington and Fisherwick continue in their role of excellence in all things Bloom most especially in the Environmental field. The Whittington and Fisherwick Environment group are the bedrock of the Bloom efforts and each year we see new initiatives being developed, whilst existing projects are continued. The outstanding project is Swan Meadow, a wildflower meadow and environmental project which was developed about 5 years ago and has matured well and showed an outstanding collection of colourful wildflowers and a haven for wildlife. The wildflowers are stunning but there is much more besides; within the site there are compost heaps, animal and hedgehog hides, bug hotels, bird and bat boxes and a solar powered water feature.

The judges also praised the great collaboration between the Environment Group and the Parish Council. Other features which were singled out for special commendation were the work of the Woodland Group in Whittington Wood, the Darnford EcoPark project developed by the LHCRT and the wonderful Bridge Garden (off Dyott Avenue) managed by local residents Irene and Mark Rushton.

The bulk of the work which has earned the Parish such an honour is carried out by a very small number of people struggling to keep up the effort. We have lost a few volunteers recently through ill health so please do watch out for the

working parties on Facebook and elsewhere and do sign up for the WFEG Projects Group by emailing enews@wfeg.org.uk if you’d like to help.