Evington in Bloom Evaluation 2024

Evington has one Bloom group called ‘Evington in Bloom’ and six It’s Your Neighbourhood (IYN) groups.  They follow guidance from the Royal Horticultural Society, who set up this scheme throughout Britain, and work with the Regional team called ‘East Midlands in Bloom’.

The main idea is to bring citizens together in groups to help the Council improve their local environment through flowers and environmental responsibility.

Whenever a project is set up, it needs a project manager, workers, in this case volunteers, a plan and then a review/evaluation.

Evington in Bloom has been in place since 2012.  The volunteers receive training from the Royal Horticultural Society at conferences and on line.

This year the East Midlands in Bloom sent judges to look at Evington on 4th July.  They did a tour, met with Cllr. Haq and received a portfolio explaining the full year’s activities of Evington in Bloom.

RESULTS

The judges’ award went to Chris Hossack “for his hard work and enthusiasm for the environment and heritage of Evington”.

They gave Evington in Bloom a Silver Gilt Award with 80% of the marks and full marks for horticulture.  The other areas assessed were ‘community’ and ‘environmental responsibility’.  They received 24 marks each.

Areas for development were:

1. The ‘Get Growing’ campaign for raised beds around Evington library and encouraging school children to grow plants.
2. More support for growing from local shops, although a great start has been made. Acknowledging sponsors is key.
3. Clean up litter bins.
4. More multicultural groups working together.
5. Create more ideas in parks and gardens with school children involved.
6. Show judges composting and water saving methods.

What the Judges liked:

1. The many planters and cut outs in Evington village with healthy plants, particularly perennials, with many plants donated by residents.
2. All the litter pickers. They mentioned Addy Tyler and litter picking teams and young people’s involvement.
3. The pretty rose garden in Evington Park, surrounded by box hedging.
4. The recently planted fruit and nut trees in Evington Park.5.
5. The theme of flowers to attract pollinators around Evington village.
6. Many ongoing walks and tree trails in Evington.
7. The Evington Bowls Club and encouraging school children to play bowls too.
8. The seed library in Evington Library.
9. The environmental day at Judgemeadow Community College.