Poole In Bloom was founded in the early 1970's when it was entirely organised and run and by the Poole Parks Department from their offices in Kingland Road where the Poole Council Nursery was situated.
In the inaugural years, shops and commercial establishments were invited to have a hanging basket(s), tubs or troughs decorating their premises. These were made up at the Council Nursery site and distributed from there. The Council also provided wrap-around lamp post containers for the High Street, Shopping Centre, Poole Quay and within Poole Park. This was in operation annually for 15 years until the Council decided to cut back its involvement.
A Poole In Bloom committee was formed in the early 1990's consisting of interested persons from different areas of Poole, together with representatives of several local businesses. All expenses were sponsored by donations with no Council involvement. All floral displays were obtained privately at individuals/organisations own expense and the Annual Presentation Event was held at Upton House. This continued for a number of years until the Council lost its nursery 1999. Poole in Bloom ceased in 2004.
In 2019, Bournemouth in Bloom suggested restarting Poole In Bloom. The Chairman of Bournemouth in Bloom formed a committee and it was agreed to have a small working party set up to get the new Poole In Bloom relaunched. This was originally set for 2020 but the Covid Pandemic prevented this from happening as planned and it was innovatively changed to a photographic competition which proved successful.
Poole In Bloom has now been running for several years and is consistently expanding with our main event being the presentation of awards held annually at Compton Acres, who graciously sponsor Poole in Bloom.
