Cricklade continues to be blooming marvellous after winning the title of the Best Small Town in the west for the fourth year running.

The town has now been put forward for the national competition after winning the gold award at the Royal Horticultural Society’s south west Britain in Bloom competition, which was announced on September 16.

A special ‘community champion’ award was given to Anita Barratt for her work as the chairman of Cricklade Bloomers, a voluntary group that works to ‘clean up and enhance the look of the town’.

Town council chairman, David Tetlow, said: “Cricklade just keeps on excelling and it’s all down to the enormous efforts our local community put in, most especially Cricklade Bloomers.

“It’s so good to see that the RHS awarded Anita Barratt with special recognition as a community champion.”

A number of groups in the town also received a special mention as part of the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood Award’, including the leisure centre gardeners, the local fire station, Thames Pre-school and Fiddlers Allotment Association.

The winner of the Best Small Town category will be announced at the finals in Birmingham on Wednesday.