Latest news with #ArrenRoberts
BBC News
05-08-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Towns put on displays as Britain in Bloom judges visit Shropshire
Two towns have been pulling out all the stops to get floral displays at their best, as Britain in Bloom judges tour judges will be in Oswestry on Wednesday after visiting Shrewsbury last clerk for Shrewsbury Helen Ball said judges arrived on a lovely, sunny day, flowerbeds were flourishing and at their peak, and people had their fingers crossed, adding: "It's always a good opportunity to showcase your town and also be judged by your peers as well."In Oswestry, town clerk Arren Roberts said the effort had been community-led, and volunteers were at work on Tuesday making sure streets looked good for the visit. Ms Ball said recent dry weather had been a "nightmare" with scorching temperatures, adding: "Two or three weeks ago when we were hitting 35C, the plants were cooking."We had to replace 20 hanging baskets and we were on the verge of giving up, but we kept trying and we've got over that storm, but it's been a tough season."Mr Roberts said the weather had proved challenging and Oswestry had lost some trees to dry weather, but he said teams had been out working hard and caring for hanging baskets and said: "The town's looking good and we're really excited for tomorrow."Britain in Bloom is run by the Royal Horticultural Society and is set up to inspire community groups to make positive changes to their local environment with horticultural, environmental and community action. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Oswestry's 15th Century mansion to house holiday lets and shops
A 15th Century merchant's house is set to be transformed into a tourism centre, shops, and small holiday Mansion, which is Grade I-listed, was bought by Oswestry Town Council in 2023, after it had fallen into authority was given nearly half-a-million pounds in grant money to carry out urgent structural repairs. It is now due to apply for a full grant of nearly £3m, under the Framing the Future Project."We think that it was built as a substantial merchant house, and we think that it might be linked possibly to the wool trade - because we know Oswestry was a real hub of the wool trade in the medieval period," said project manager Samantha Jones. It is hoped the work will remove it from the UK's Heritage at Risk project will see community and commercial spaces created on the lower floors, with holiday accommodation on the upper the holiday lets, Ms Jones said: "We know that we're not going to make money off Lwydd Mansion, but what we need to do is earn a little bit of a return to cover the costs of maintaining the building, going forward." Oswestry town clerk Arren Roberts, said safety was a priority that was considered."One of the things we need to make sure is about fire safety - it's a timber frame building," he explained."One of the options that we're looking at is to have accommodation on the top floor so we need to make sure people are safe in the building." 'Maintain it for the future' The team also plans to relocate the tourist information centre into the building. "We're going to work with local artisans... to create some really high quality bespoke items that we can sell that have Llwyd Mansion as the inspiration," said Ms Jones."We've got a conservation architect team on board and they'll be helping to advise us on what we do to restore the building."It's really important not to just to do the restoration project but that we maintain it for the future." Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
