A County Durham allotments club filled with community spirit is one of the many winners of this year’s Beautiful Durham awards.
Belmont Allotments Club has been named overall winner of the annual competition, with the results being announced online this morning (Wednesday 7 October).
The Durham County Council competition encourages impressive floral displays and other efforts by both individuals and organisations to make improvements to their neighbourhoods across the Durham City area.
Despite many events being cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the council was to keen to go ahead with this year’s contest and with many people spending lockdown in their gardens, it certainly wasn’t short of entries.
Residents, schools, businesses and other organisations all entered the competition, celebrating the ways in which they have created a more attractive environment to live, visit or work across Durham City.
Winning both the best overall entry and best group horticultural project, Belmont Allotments Club were praised for their enthusiasm and community spirit following their efforts to develop communal areas such as the sensory garden.
Other organisations to receive awards include the Sherburn Hospital Care Home for best sheltered accommodation complex and Finchale View Riding School in Leamside for the best business premises. Meanwhile, Wantage Road in Carrville has also been named Durham’s best kept residential area.
Cllr Brian Stephens, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to go ahead with this year’s Beautiful Durham competition. Despite the challenges of lockdown, many people were able to spend more time outdoors and it’s great to see that people have been inspired to become more green-fingered in that time.
“The competition not only helps to highlight the hard work ensuring Durham remains a beautiful place to live, work and visit, but it also promotes a great sense of community spirit across the city. To manage that safely through such a difficult time is certainly something to celebrate and I’d like to congratulate all our winners for their fantastic efforts.”
A full list of winners can be found here: www.durham.gov.uk/beautifuldurham
