Oakham won gold award in the town category and Uppingham, won a silver gilt award.
The volunteers do a great job here in Oakham making our town look good. With their
interestingly planted flower beds especially the one outside the library.
Oakham Town Council provide the horrid hanging baskets.
I have often wondered though why as a town we always seem to win these Bloom
prizes, as I and others often see many fantastic displays in other towns who don't
win.
Then I found out why, Oakham was nominated by East Midland in Bloom for
Britain in Bloom and the local tell us, there are only eight other nominations for
Britain in Bloom and that's taken from the whole country. The simple fact is those
other towns don't even bother entering their own regional contests.
This year Oakham Town Council spent a fortune on new "ugly" hanging baskets.
The judges have gone and the watering contract appears to have ended and we
are left with some quite shabby looking planters and the baskets that had reached
their prime and are now slowly drying out.
As for the watering, I can not understand why Oakham Town Council thought
it was good to buy those new pots/baskets the supplier said they require less watering
so why does the Town Council pay them £6,000 for watering? Costing three times as
much as previous years?
