Malton Town Council - Malton in Bloom

Malton In Bloom (MiB) is a thriving community gardening campaign, established in 2017, run entirely by volunteers, and managed by Malton Town Council. Our aim is to make Malton look blooming marvellous throughout the year.

Malton’s slightly inclining Market Place, circled by elegant shops and buildings, with large linear streets beyond, lends itself to an extensive array of colourful and fragrant summer planting in beds, baskets and planters. We use thousands of plants in over 200 hanging baskets put up by local businesses, Malton Town Council and Malton Community Interest Company (Fitzwilliam Estate). In addition, railing planters have adorned a number of prominent sites in the towns, such as County Bridge and Railway Street, also supported by Norton Town Council.

MiB has been a huge success, as recognised by the award of Gold by Yorkshire In Bloom in 2019 and 2018, as well as overall caterogry winner, it will continue to succeed if the local community, residents, business people, children, and visitors to our community feel a sense of belonging and can help in creating that ‘wow’ factor. We've had a bit of a break from the competition due to covid.

Another important part of MiB is the involvement of all sectors of the local community in managing the local environment. MiB community groups have been dead-heading the formal displays and tending to green open spaces across the community.

Groups involved include St Michaels Church, Malton Flower Club, Malton W.I., Frack Free Ryedale, Derwent Diggers, Malton and District Beekeepers Association as well as MiB’s own volunteers. MiB is also supporting Malton School Gardening Club with their various gardening projects, including barrier baskets and hanging baskets.

The Malton Scouts have also enjoyed sowing the wildflower beds at Orchard Fields

Malton in Bloom Thrives On Generous Donations and Kind Contributors

Every little helps as they say and donations for Malton in Bloom come in from individuals as well as local businesses, ranging from £25.00 to £5,000.00. We pay special thanks to;

Goodys Hair & Beauty

The Easy Office Group

Transpennine Express

Ware and Kay Solicitors

Visit Malton CIC

The Talbot Hotel

Palace Cinema

County & Town Cllr Lindsay Burr MBE

Boulton & Cooper

Lowfield Garage

Cundalls

Malton and Norton Rotary Club

Terry Elsey Tyres

Ray Chapman Motors

Direct Imaging Supplies

Bella Di Notte

Beecham Pharmacy

Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors

J B Motors

Tate Smith

Derventio Wines

Charles Snowden Coins

Northern Power Grid

Plum

Malton Lions

MKM

Watermark

A&P Sedman

Thomas of York Ltd

McClarrons Insurance Ltd

Special shout out to Stuarts Fish and Chips, Castlegate for all the water kindly donated as well as our regular suppliers Payleys, Yates, Steam and Moorland, Rodgers, Vertigrow, Castle Howard and Metcalfes at Ebberston.

So what can you do to help?

Donate - MiB tries to spend every pound wisely, it is surprising how far even the smallest donation can help go towards that extra plant, or bag of compost. Donations can be made to Malton Town Council, The Wesley Centre, 10-12 Saville Street, Malton, North Yorkshire, YO17 7LL. Telephone 01653 609888 or email deputy.clerk@malton-tc.gov.uk

Volunteer - We are always looking to expand our team of volunteers who can help practically, whether it be dead heading, digging or planting. Come and get involved with this dynamic group of people, it is also good fun socially to get out and about. Email deputy.clerk@malton-tc.gov.uk

Where can I see what MiB have done?

Take a look at the grey planters and barrels around town, they are MiB. All the hanging baskets and barrier baskets in summer are ours. The horse with the jump and new decorative track on Broughton Rise is our work. The Castlegate terraced planting area is ours. The beds to the front of JB Motors are Womens Instutute/MiB. St Leonards community gardens are Womens Institute/Frack Free and MiB. The bee garden at the Coastliner garage is Beekepers/MiB. The Station forecourt and planting are Derwent Diggers / MiB. The garden islands at Water Lane Car Park are MiB. Sparrow's Nest, including the new sculputre, is our handy work. The new planting to the roundabouts is MiB. Our latest offering is the lavender maze on Broughton Rise, with sensory plants and sculptures, this is all MIB work.

Any projects in the pipeline?

Yes MiB always looks to move forward with new projects. We are looking to complete the maze site shortly and move into the epxansion of planting around the towns.

Malton In Bloom enters Yorkshire in Bloom annually where we continue to hope winning gold awards. The judges are guided by three core pillars; Horticultural Achievement, Environmental Responsibility and Community Participation. (Covid has brought about a break from the competition)

Horticultural Achievement

They evaluate plant selection and plant quality, having regard to colours, the design of the scheme, and themes, distribution and age of the plants. They evaluate maintenance, weeding, watering, dead heading, thinning and cultivation.

A good example of this is, in designing sparrows nest, one area lent itself to a woodland scheme, so we selected plants like grasses, ferns and those frond like to provide the woodland structure, whereas another bed lent itself to pollinators such as cornflour, lavender and rudbeckia.

Environmental Responsibility

The judges are looking for the protection and conservation of the natural environment and wildlife habitat. They are looking at cleanliness, litter collections, street weeds, street furniture maintenance and animal waste control. They are also looking for the inclusion of a sense of place, heritage, art in the landscape and signage through interpretation boards.

Community Participation

Active engagement with the local audience, both within and around the immediate area. They are looking for evidence of ongoing projects by the local in bloom initiative, evidence of some formal planning. We are actively encouraged to involve all ages and maximise social media. You can find Malton in Bloom on facebook and instagram.

Malton In Bloom supports all three of our local schools, Malton Secondary School, Malton Primary School and St Mary's Roman Catholic

School. They have been working hard on the Royal Horticultural Society Schools Programme which starts young people on a lifetimes journey with plants. Children learn how to grow and harvest vegetables, grow fruit and create planting areas suitable for bees and butterflies. Bug hotels have been installed in all three schools along with raised beds. The students at Malton School have even made their hanging baskets which are displayed beautifully around the school and supply the school kitchen with produce from their garden. Malton In Bloom are delighted that our schools are part of our project, we are keen to share practical knowledge and inspire people of all ages and abilities with an interest in plants and gardening, growing the next generation of horticulturists.

We also involved the scouts where they planted the seeds for our wildflower garden at Orchard Fields. The photo adjacent is actual evidence of their hard work.

MALTON IN BLOOM