Judges descended on Sodbury last week as the town went under the microscope for the South West in Bloom Awards.

Volunteers from Sodbury in Bloom have been working hard all year to make sure that the town was in fantastic shape to achieve the highest possible grade again.

In October last year they received the top award for their work in 2018.

That saw them awarded a gold in the Champion of Champions category.

The group also received an award for outstanding work on the community garden in the area.

This year numerous businesses got involved and supported the group by hanging colourful hanging baskets outside in the High Street.

There were also generous donations of ice cream, drinks and other food as the volunteers worked hard to prepare the town.

The judges came to the town on Monday, July 8 and the group are now hoping they are impressed by what they saw.

Julia Bernau of Sodbury in Bloom said: “The town was looking at its very best and the judges seemed to enjoy themselves which is always a good sign.

“The run up to judging is always hard work and we couldn’t do it without the help and support we get from the community.

“People who provide their own planters and hanging baskets do a wonderful job as does Bob Janes who waters nearly everything every day.

“Tea and coffee from the Royal Oak, the Horseshoe and Madd Sandwiches and others are always very welcome but the highlight this year was the ice creams supplied by the Chamber of Commerce when we were cleaning the high street on a very hot day.

“The list of organisations and individuals who support Sodbury in Bloom is a very long one and we are very grateful in particular to the the Town Council, the Town Lands Charity, Chipping Sodbury Town Trust, the Rotary, the Lions and the Chamber of Commerce. We can’t thank everyone but they know who they are and we are very, very grateful to all of them.”

The Mayor of Sodbury, Cllr James Ball, also praised the group for the ‘fantastic’ work they do in the area.

“Sodbury in Bloom do an incredible job of making the town look so beautiful throughout the year,”

“All of the volunteers work so passionately to better our environment and we are all so grateful for their heroic efforts despite them being the victims of random acts of vandalism over the past couple of months, they continue on regardless.

“The Sodbury in Bloom team can regularly be seen not only making our streets beautiful with their floral displays, they also do a huge amount of litter picking and the back breaking task of cleaning the famous chippings.

“I would personally like to thank all of the Award Winning volunteers for all they do for Sodbury, we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.”