A TOWN has been awarded gold in a national flower competition for its beautiful display of blooms. 

Whitchurch in Bloom won the award in the small town category of the RHS In Bloom 2023 competition.

The team was also awarded silver gilt in the Best Biodiversity & Environmental Innovation Award and silver gilt in the Best Community Engagement Award.

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The awards were a culmination of a huge amount of work by the team led by Whitchurch residents Caroline Wells and Kathy Hardy.

Having won bronze in 2021 and silver gilt in 2022, the team mobilised an army of volunteers to create stunning hanging baskets and planters throughout the town centre, engaged the community for a floral Coronation bikes initiative and enhanced aspects of the town’s special environmental setting by the River Test Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Caroline said: “We are very grateful for the support of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Whitchurch Town Council as well as a lot of hands-on hard work from local Whitchurch residents.”