It's time for the borough to bloom again

Local people are being invited to submit their entries for this year's Townships in Bloom competition, after it was launched at Rochdale Town Hall today (Thursday 22 May).

The competition will once again provide a local focus to the regionally organised North West in Bloom Awards.

Rochdale Council's Townships in Bloom competition has been running since 1995 and is all about local people and local projects across the whole borough. It is designed to encourage improvement of the local environment through improvements to gardens and backyards, as well as community projects helping to support learning and enjoyment.

The success of the competition has been greatly helped by the committed support of the competition's sponsors: Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, The All in One Garden Centre, Casey Group and the Rochdale Observer Group.

Cabinet member for environment and sustainability, Councillor Wera Hobhouse said: "Townships in Bloom is about helping to make Heywood, Pennines, Middleton and Rochdale better places to live and work. Anyone can enter, whether you are a householder proud of your garden, a hotel or business with massive grounds, or a member of a community group involved in local environmental projects. It is free to enter and the winners will be announced in September."

To enter, you just need to fill in a simple form and tell us which of the categories (shown below) that you want to be considered for. The closing date for entries is 1 July and preliminary judging will take place during the first two weeks of July. Final judging is likely to be the third week of July.