Double gold success for town in Britain in Bloom

Queen's Park in Loughborough is one of the town's open spaces visited by Britain in Bloom judges

A town has been awarded two gold medals for its green spaces and overcoming adversity after flooding.

Loughborough took gold at the Britain in Bloom finals on Monday in the small city category for the East Midlands.

Additionally, the town picked up its second gold for overcoming adversity at the finals, following flooding earlier this year.

Judges visited some of its open spaces in August, including Queen's Park and Forest Road Greenbelt.

A grassed area in Queen's Park, which was flooded earlier this year after heavy rainfall

An "enormous" amount of work goes into Loughborough in Bloom, chairwoman Pat Cook says.

She told the BBC she was "so delighted" with the two awards and that it took "a lot of hard work and dedication" to earn a gold medal.

Ms Cook said there were almost 40 volunteer groups across the town that worked to maintain the open spaces for free.

"Sometimes we have to put out for grants as well," she added. "But it's just hard work and dedication.

"We just want to see our areas looking the best we can."

Queen's Park flooded in January, delaying planned drainage works on a grassed area

Drainage works on a grassed area of Queen's Park were delayed until May by the flooding, Charnwood Borough Council said.

The work, which added underground pipes and gravel trenches to hold excess water, aimed to reduce the frequency and severity that the grass and path were waterlogged following wet weather.

Ms Cook said: "[The overcoming adversity award] was in recognition of our communities coming together during the heavy flooding that we experienced earlier on in the year.

"The Greenbelt got flooded, Queen's Park and the town.

"We all came together to deal with it and that's why we got that."

This is the fourth time Loughborough has achieved gold at the finals, following successes in 2014, 2016 and 2019

The Britain in Bloom finals took place in Manchester and were organised by the Royal Horticultural Society.

The council's open spaces partner, idverde, refuse partner Serco and volunteers and community groups from across Loughborough help to look after some of the open spaces, parks, and nature reserves in the town.

Matthew Bradford, head of contracts for leisure, waste and environment at the council, congratulated everyone involved.

He said: "This is amazing news that Loughborough has deservedly been awarded gold once again for its green spaces."

This is the 13th consecutive gold rating received by the town at the East Midlands in Bloom awards