'In Bloom' - Newsletter - September 2006

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September 2006
THE PENNINE VILLAGE OF LUDDENDEN
Silver Medal - Britain in Bloom 2005

Luddenden wins Silver Gilt

The award ceremony took place at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford on Tuesday 7th September. Following on from our Silver Medal in Britain in Bloom last year the village achieved Silver Gilt in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition using the same criteria. This is a highly commendable performance for the village and shows that we are still improving with each year. So well done to everyone, without your support the village would not be looking as great as it does. Darley who are old hands at this competition was the overall winner with a Gold Medal and will go forward to Britain in Bloom next year. Appleton Wiske also achieved a Gold so well done to all the villages in what has been an interesting competition.

For those interested in facts and figures a full breakdown of the results can be found on www.yorkshireinbloom.com website. For the rest of us here are the medal winners in our section along with some of the judges comments on our village.

  • Appleton Wiske - Gold
  • Cawthorne - Silver
  • Darley - Gold (Winner)
  • Hampsthwaite - Silver
  • Kirkby Malzead - Silver
  • Luddenden - Silver Gilt
  • Oulton - Silver
  • Shiptonthorpe - Silver
  • Spofforth - Silver Gilt
  • Upper Hopton - Silver
LUDDENDEN - SILVER GILT

Situated on the steep sided hills Luddenden has various difficulties to overcome but with a very motivated group they achieve high standards and an enjoyable and interesting environment for the locals. The whole village plays their part in creating displays and various habitats and there is a strong sense of recycling throughout the village. The publicity team should be congratulated on their campaign.

SECTION A FLORAL DISPLAYS - The judges were impressed by:

  1. In such a difficult area, the amount of floral displays
  2. The displays at the Lord Nelson
  3. The displays at the War Memorial
  4. The planting by the Guides

SECTION B PERMANENT LANDSCAPING, INCLUDING SHRUBS - The judges were impressed by:

  1. The variety of planting at the car park creates a great effect
  2. In difficult circumstances the amount of planting around the village in communal gardens and in residential areas
  3. The work being carried out in the Substation Garden>

Any other comments - The herbaceous planting at the entrance to the church. The plans for the new developments at the Lord Nelson. The additional planting at Brigitte s garden. The partnership work with the Local Authority

SECTION C CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING - The judges were impressed by:

  1. The butterfly boxes in the park
  2. Composting bins in various sites but hidden from view

Any other comments - The wildflower plantings by the river

SECTION D LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - The judges were impressed by:

  1. The lack of graffiti and fly posting
  2. The Guides project to paint the bins

Any other comments - The negotiations to replace the salt bins with black ones

SECTION E PUBLIC AWARENESS - The judges were impressed by:

  1. The informative window display and the media coverage, posters round the village and the Web site
  2. The plant sales and the adopt a duck project

Other News from the village

The BBQ held at the Lord Nelson on the 26th August was a great success. Not only did it stay dry but the food and drink went down very well. A big thanks to Matt and Debbie who hosted the event on the occasion of the official opening of the beer garden and to everyone who attended which helped raise £220. This will be put to good use on future projects in the village. A further thank you go to our young duck race sellers, Daniel, Owen, Natalie, Martin, Kaya, Abbey, Sian, Thomas, William, Tom and the not so young Nicola behind the bar.

Mayor Making - Thank you to all who supported this event, on the day we raised £165.69 and again this will be used in and around the village.

Jobs to do this month

Starting cutting back perennials that have finished flowering. A must now is to feed and improve your soil so starting digging in well-rotted compost or farmyard manure. Plan and plant spring bulbs. By planting alliums, crocus, daffodil, hyacinths, muscari, British Snowdrops and tulips by mid September you will get a great show in spring. The lawn needs to be aerated with a garden fork by spiking at 15cm (6inch) intervals at a depth of 15cm (6inch). Once this is down give it a good scarify and finally a top dressing.

Plant wallflowers, forget-me-nots and other spring bedding. Lift and divide large perennial clumps. Wash off greenhouse summer shading paint and while you are in there sow pots of hardy annuals for early colour next year. Try calendula, cornflower and nemesia. Fill 15-20cm (6-8inch) pots with compost and sow directly into these. Keep plants in full sunlight as they develop. You can still sow a selection of lettuce seeds up till the end of September to give you a continued crop from autumn till spring. To help provide a good harvest use a cloche to keep them warm and speed up growth.

Bird Life

Autumn heralds the changeover in the bird world. House Martins, Swallows and Swifts will be on their way south and winter visitors such as Fieldfares and Redwings will be taking their place. Food from now on will become vital and there is nothing worse for a flock of hungry blue tits than to arrive expectantly in the garden and fin out you forgot the birdseed!! So here are a few tips on what to put out. High-energy foods such as sunflower hearts are ideal for the smaller birds that need all the help they can get during cold spells. An array of food that includes seeds, raisins, sultanas and suet sprinkled liberally on a tray or bird table will attract many bird species. Fat balls that can be bought from most pet shops are ideal for blue tits, robins, woodpeckers and starlings. If you want to plant something that attracts birds during winter then try holly and pyracantha. Blackbirds and thrushes love the berries. Finally leave windfalls on the ground as again blackbirds and thrushes along with our winter visitor the redwing relish them.

Don’t forget you can still get involved in this year’s BBC Autumnwatch Survey 2006. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/Autumnwatch or our web site for last months newsletter for further information.