Floral Gateway Competition
What is the Floral Gateway Competition?
The Floral Gateway is a competition designed to encourage communities groups in the Scottish Borders to take an interest in their areas. The areas are judged in three main criteria; Floral Presentation, Cleanliness and Community involvement. Parks, Open Spaces, public and private gardens, allotments, churches, war memorials, schools, industrial areas and business premises are all taken into consideration.
Why should my community enter?
Communities who have entered in the past have found that it has encouraged local people to take pride in their environment. This has made people more aware of their surroundings, discouraging litter/graffiti and encouraging positive actions to improve the look of the area. Tourism also accounted for £70m of revenue to the Scottish Borders in 2005, so to continue to attract this level of revenue and encourage repeat visits, we need to ensure that our area is as visually attractive as possible.
Who Can Enter?
There are four entry categories:
- Town (population over 2,500)
- Large Village (population between 1,001 and 2,500)
- Small Village (population between 301 and 1,000)
- Wee Village (population of 300 or less)
There is also a new category for 2009 - the Champion of Champions Category. This category will see the category winners of each of the four classes from the previous year go head to head against each other. This will bring about an added element of competition within all five categories and ensure opportunity to all those communities who take the time and effort to put themselves forward.
How do you enter?
Entry forms for 2009 have gone out to all previous entrants and community councils and are also available here. If you have any questions, please call the parks office on 01896 661770 or visit the council offices at 11 Market Street, Galashiels, TD1 3AD.
Schedule for the 2009 competition
Tuesday 21 April 2009 - Entry forms sent out and made available via the website.
Friday 29 May 2009 - Closing date for entries.
Monday 20 July 2009 - Approximate date for judging to commence. Dates will be confirmed when the entries have all been received and a schedule can be drawn up.
Tuesday 1 September 2009 - Results and prize giving to be held at Tweed Horizons.








