Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Gosling Sike volunteers have won four gardening awards at the Cumbria in Bloom Awards.
Located in Houghton, near Carlisle, Gosling Sike is the Trust’s northern office and community hub.
It's where a dedicated team of volunteers helps maintain an aesthetically inviting and wildlife-friendly garden.
This year, their exceptional work has been recognised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) at the highly anticipated Cumbria in Bloom Awards.
For the first time, the award ceremony was held at Gosling Sike, Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s northern office and community hub near Carlisle.
The team was gifted with four prestigious awards including two RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards, the Cumbria In Bloom Special Award For Biodiversity, and the BBC’s The One Show and RHS Growing Together Award for Community Gardening.
Adam McGinley, the Gosling Sike Site Manager, found words inadequate to express the team's excitement, remarking: "This is a fantastic achievement and recognises the skill and hard work that has been invested in creating such a fantastic wildlife garden over the last few years by all of our volunteers and staff.
"These Awards are a recognition of all of the hard work, dedication and passion of the volunteers at Gosling Sike".
The judges were deeply impressed by their visit to the site.
The garden, initiated in 2020, now flourishes with rich biodiversity, thanks to the unwavering commitment and passion of the volunteers, who have turned the place into an ideal habitat for a wide variety of species.
Birds, mammals, and pollinators such as bees, butterflies and dragonflies are all drawn to the diverse and life-nurturing environments created in the garden.
Ronnie Auld, Cumbria in Bloom Chairman appreciated hosting the awards ceremony at Gosling Sike.
He praised the centre's facilities as well as the welcoming demeanour of the staff, saying: "I think that it will go down as one of the most successful we have ever held.
"Your facilities at the Centre are wonderful and ideal for our northern event.
"Everyone enjoyed hearing about the Centre from you and they much enjoyed walking out and viewing the gardens, seed bank and polytunnels."
The Cumbria in Bloom initiative is the county’s leading campaign motivating people to work together in their local environment, to maintain a clean, litter-free community, and to exhibit pride in their neighbourhoods.
The staff at Gosling Sike not only focuses on gardening but also on forging creative arts connections with the local community, while conserving essential seeds at their seed bank, and hosting Carlisle’s first Men’s Shed.
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