LUDLOW goes for gold today (Thursday, July 7).

The judges from Heart of England in Bloom will be in town to run their eyes over blooming Ludlow.

It is a big year for ‘Ludlow in Bloom’ that has won gold in 11 of the 13 years that it has entered the competition. The two occasions that it missed out it ended up with Silver Guilt Awards.

There will be extra pressure this year because Ludlow will host the annual awards ceremony in September and it would not look good to miss out on gold when the accolades are given out on home territory.

Vivienne Parry, who leads the Ludlow in Bloom group, says that there is no room from complacency and whilst past successes are great they do add to the pressure.

This year the colours purple, yellow, cream and gold are the theme of the town’s displays.

Also new this year is a sensory garden in the Castle Street car park that has been built thanks to a £12,000 award from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help Award’ that utilises money from the sale of plastic bags.

The Heart of England in Bloom judges will tour the town this morning before arriving at Ludlow Brewery for Lunch.

Over the years the awards have changed and now is concerned with more than just the floral appearance of a town. It also takes into account the involvement of the community and business.

Earlier this year, it was considered that ageing and fading signs on two of the roads coming into the town were letting the side down and that would never do especially in the year when the town is hosting the ‘in bloom’ awards ceremony.

So ‘Ludlow in Bloom’ group decided that something needed to be done and enlisted the help of major local employer McConnel’s.

The company that specialises in agricultural and construction equipment paid for and erected two new ‘welcome to Ludlow’ signs on two of the major roots into the town.