Great Yorkshire Showground Prepares to Bloom Again
Members of staff at the Great Yorkshire Showground near Harrogate are making
their green fingers work harder than usual as they prepare to enter the 2008 Yorkshire
In Bloom Awards. A team of 20 staff from the Yorkshire Agricultural Society,
including site supervisor Mick Askew and Chief Executive Nigel Pulling, will be
assisting with the preparations by planting over 80 tubs and troughs. The Society
entered the prestigious annual awards for the first time last year and won a Silver
Gilt Medal, and is hoping to be even more successful this year.
Nigel Pulling, Chief Executive, said: “It was absolutely brilliant to receive
a Silver Gilt Award at our first attempt last year, and we definitely want to
improve on that this year. Everybody is working extremely hard to make sure the
showground looks the best it can, and that’s no mean feat on a 100 acre site!”
“One of the features for our entry will be arranging flower tubs in the shape
of ‘150’, to mark the 150th Great Yorkshire Show next month. We are hoping this will make a big visual
impact, but it is a relatively small part of our preparations for the Awards.
We spend all year maintaining and caring for the site, as well as carrying out
environmental work.” The Show runs from Tuesday 8 – Thursday 10 July when more
than 130,000 visitors are expected to attend the three day rural extravaganza.
Judging is scheduled for Wednesday 25 June and will take in the rose garden,
the President’s Lawn, the area around the showground’s main ring and grandstand,
the Green Gables Nursery garden with its vegetable patch, and also the newly created
garden areas near Pavilions of Harrogate.
In addition, members of Tidy Gardens, an adult community group with learning
difficulties based in Starbeck, have helped plant and weed the Mayor’s Parlour
area of the site.
Staff at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society with Chief Executive Nigel Pulling (centre)
celebrating the 150th Great Yorkshire Show as part of their entry to Yorkshire In Bloom.