Picture Ref: 77609-51SWINDON... AND PROUD OF IT: SWINDON town centre may come in for a bit of stick but there is a small team working hard to make the best of it.

Town centre manager Bernie Maguire has been working for 10 years to make it a safe and appealing place to be.

And along with the town centre team they are making a difference.

Mr Maguire said: "We are all proud to be working for Swindon.

"We work hard to make the town centre somewhere people can be proud of."

Yesterday the team installed flowerbeds throughout the town centre in a bid to brighten the place up.

Mr Maguire said: "We take pride in our work. This is the first time in years there will be flowers in the town centre and they'll bring a bit of colour.

"There's a lot of work going on but it's also down to the people of Swindon as well, we can't do it all."

Oliver O'Dell, who oversees the team, echoed the message that residents need to help make the centre a nicer place.

"The council and the police put in a lot of effort to maintain and secure the town centre.

"But people need to have more civic pride and not rely on other people to keep it going.

"Things like not dropping litter and chewing gum and reporting people doing graffiti make a big difference."