They don’t just have a magic touch with animals – but also plants as the team at Paragon Veterinary Group scoop two awards for the wellbeing and biodiversity garden they have created at their Dalston branch.
Vet Laura Binnie and centre manager Diane Armstrong were presented with the RHS Cumbria in Bloom Awards at Carlisle Civic Centre yesterday (19 Oct).
Paragon received an outstanding award in the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ category and a silver in the ‘Biodiversity’ category.
“We are absolutely delighted,” said Laura who had the idea for the garden and is Paragon’s Sustainability Lead.
“We worked hard to turn the area beside our building into a haven for staff and for wildlife and it has been wonderful to see it flourish.”
The Paragon team created the garden last year with some help from pupils at St Michael’s School in Dalston who scattered wildflower seeds and helped to plant fruit trees.
The garden was created using donated pollinator friendly plants, and has a bat box, hedgehog hide, robin house and bug hotel.
Laura said: “We wanted to create a pleasant outdoor space for our staff to use for their breaks, as taking time out in green spaces is great for our mental health and wellbeing. And also a space to have outdoor meetings to encourage creativity in a calm and neutral space.
“We are incredibly lucky to have this area around the side and back of our practice. We built the garden ourselves and some of the plants were supplied from our staff member’s gardens.
“We use compost that we make from our tea bags and fruit peels, and we planted fruit trees and bushes with the help of our local primary school which produce fresh fruit for our staff to enjoy.
We water the plants with water collected from our roof.
“We have provided animal hides to encourage wildlife to move in and more recently we have developed a bog garden to further encourage biodiversity in the area. Nothing new was bought to develop the garden, we repurposed sandstone blocks and slate and pieces of wood we had lying around.”
The garden is part of Paragon’s sustainability drive. The business, which has centres in Dalston, Newbiggin near Penrith and Wetheral, aims to be carbon neutral by 2030 or earlier.
Laura said: “This is just one of the ways Paragon is doing what we can to become a sustainably minded business that our staff are proud to work for.
“Winning this award has made us excited about what more we could do for next year’s entry!”
Mayor of Carlisle, Mike Mitchelson, welcomed gardeners, judges and Cumbria in Bloom members to the Civic Hall for the third and final ceremony.
The Mayor said: “It is a pleasure to host this event, celebrating the achievements of the gardeners in North Cumbria. It is important to pay tribute to everyone who takes part. It’s hard work, requires lots of volunteers and is well worth it. Cumbria in Bloom is a great way to promote your town or village.”
Chairman of Cumbria in Bloom, Ronnie Auld said: “The advantage of hosting three smaller events than one county even is that more of the volunteers, the people who do the job of creating these gardens and displays get the chance to receive their awards. It is a great opportunity for us to say a big thank you to all the volunteers who do wonderful things for their communities, not Cumbria in Bloom, which is so important.
“It is also an opportunity to than our judges, who are skilful and knowledgeable people. Cumbria is a big place to cover and our judges cover many miles to see all the gardens who are entered into the competition.
“And this year Cumbria was successfully represented the national Britain in Bloom by three of last year’s winners – Workington who won a Silver Medal , Ulverston BID won a Gold Medal and Irthington Village won a Silver Gilt and their leading gardener Danny Poland, 20 receive the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Community Champion award. We re so proud of Cumbria achieving so much at a national level.”
Cumbria’s national winners were featured on BBC1’s One Show, and Cumbria in Bloom members hope the coverage will encourage more communities to get involved in Cumbria in Bloom 2023.
RHS Judge, Rae Beckwith who presented the RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood certificates to all the local entries said: “It is so good to see so many new gardening groups taking part this year. This is what we need for the future.
“Cumbria was once one of many entrants in Britian in Bloom, today it is a great example of what can be achieved. Let’s get more people involved in 2023.”
Ronnie added: “We have several categories for gardeners to get involved , and the It’s Your Neighbourhood is open to groups of more than two people who come together to make a real difference to their communities.
“Cumbria in Bloom and Britain in Bloom isn’t about having perfect flowers beds, but about creating green spaces that improve where people live and work. Cumbria in Bloom is about celebrating the achievements of volunteers who can be growing anything from planters of flowers and vegetable plots to bringing life back to a patch of ground in your town or village. If you are growing and planting in your community, to improve your environment, you can also entre it into Cumbria in Bloom 2023.”
