MALVERN residents from all walks of life have excelled in the Heart of England in Bloom It’s Your Neighbourhood awards.

The awards are run separately to the main Heart of England in Bloom campaign, to encourage small communities that are not led by local authorities to enter their projects.

They are judged on a five-point scale, from establishing, through improving, developing, thriving and outstanding. Malvern could once again boast the lion’s share of the region’s participants this year, with no less than 12 entries bidding to impress the judges.

And once again they enjoyed considerable success, with outstanding awards for Lansdowne Crescent residents, Little Malvern Priory and the Beauchamp Community, and thriving awards for the Wilderness Regeneration Group, who have created their own garden in Elgar Avenue, and The Jesse Tree garden at Holly Mount Church. There were developing awards for the Bridge Training and Development Centre, in Hanley Swan, Elizabeth Fitzroy Support, in Lower Howsell Road, Monksfield Allotment Association and Pathways day centre, based at the Three Counties Showground.

Viscount Cobham Court (below) and Howbury House Resource Centre were both awarded improving status, while there was an establishing award for Malvern’s Gypsy Roma Travellers Group.

Malvern in Bloom chairman John Jordan is delighted at another strong showing for the town’s communities.

“Once again I was very proud of the efforts of our residents and I was delighted to see them achieve so highly,” he said. “It is good to see such a wide variety of groups taking part.

“Hopefully the pleasure of achieving these awards will be encouragement for them to carry on and inspiration for others to take part next year.”