Photos show members of the committee and the volunteer working party planting bulbs.
Baildon in Bloom The Baildon in Bloom Committee had only just recovered from their very successful ‘Wacky Scarecrow Walk’ before they started with a new incentive, their ‘Golden Daffodils for Spring’ promotion. This idea caught the imagination of the Baildon public and it appeared to set the scene for the ‘Yorkshire in Bloom’ competition for 2010. Having won two Silver Gilt Awards, the committee are pulling out all the stops for a Gold Award this year, and Bradford Council have confirmed that they will support as much as possible to help Baildon achieve this target. The Yorkshire in Bloom judges will arrive in Baildon in early April for their spring judging and the Baildon in Bloom committee are confident that with the continued support and cooperation of the villagers, Baildon will again raise the bar with their beautiful display of blooms. Baildon has an enviable reputation for being a very clean and well cared for village and the committee would like to offer their personal thanks to Baildoners and visitors to this popular village for their efforts in keeping such high standards. There has been a generous reaction from members of the public, who have donated many bags of bulbs to boost the committee’s contribution. The number of bulbs planted for spring is almost three thousand, and as Wordsworth once said, Baildon will have a ‘host of daffodils’ around the village. This has all meant a lot of hard work for the committee and volunteer planters on
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Life & Leisure
the working parties. There has been a great deal of help from The Probation Service and their Payback Team. The team consists of seven teenagers with a supervisor, who all brought their own tools and even their lunch with them! Committee member Ron Bairstow told us, “We were very impressed with the way the payback team tackled the job in hand, they worked very hard and it was obvious that they realised that they were ‘paying back’ to the community for their misdeeds. Their efforts were greatly appreciated by the committee and we would highly recommend this wonderful service provided by The Probation Service.” There were two areas planned, the area around The Cricketers Arms and Baildon
Green hamlet, and the second by the cattle grid, close to the tilted trolley. The team worked very hard and planted 700 bulbs in a few hours. Each school in Baildon also received a bag of daffodil bulbs, to be planted by the school garden clubs. This idea came after Sandal School won second prize at the recent Scarecrow Walk, with scarecrows from their own garden club. The Baildon in Bloom committee are hopeful that the Yorkshire in Bloom judges will be suitably impressed by their efforts to include all of the schools and general public in their target of a Gold Award in 2010.