THORNBURY is officially the floral capital of the south west after winning Britain In Bloom’s Champion of Champions award.

This year the town was entered into the top class of the Britain In Bloom South West competition, competing against the winners of each of last year’s categories.

Every entry achieved a gold medal but Thornbury was declared the best and lifted the Champion of Champions trophy.

In addition, all of Thornbury’s community groups that entered the It’s Your Neighbourhood awards received a grade of either thriving or outstanding.

Five members of the Thornbury in Bloom team were joined by mayor Angela Symonds and four members of South Gloucestershire Council’s groundstaff at the awards ceremony in Newport on Friday.

Committee member Sue Aitken said: “The success reflects the huge level of community involvement that goes into creating our entry.

“Thanks go to everyone who has been involved in any way. The award is for the whole town and should be a great cause for celebration.

“We can all say we live in a Britain In Bloom top award winning town.”

The team are already looking ahead to next year’s entry.

Sue added: “With many of the members of the organising team having to give up some of their duties, mainly due to advancing years, unless we have some new helpers this could be the end of Thornbury In Bloom as we currently know it.

“We need some physical workers who can wield a strimmer, rake or spade, some fundraisers who can get out and spread the word to local businesses about the benefits of being associated with a champion, we need someone with some knowledge of local schools to co-ordinate our work with young people and we need some people who can deliver leaflets, sell raffle tickets and make tea!

“In other words there is a job for anyone who would like to be involved!”

Anyone who is interested should contact one of the current team, pop into Thornbury Garden Shop and speak to Sue, email thornburyinbloom@yahoo.co.uk or send a message to the group’s Facebook page.

The group are holding their AGM and first planning meeting for 2020 at The Swan on Monday, November 25 at 7.30pm.