OSWESTRY is celebrating after the town picked up a victory in the Heart of England Awards on Thursday for the second year running.

The town's In-Bloom committee was at the awards ceremony which was held at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall and Oswestry in Bloom were named the large town category overall winners.

Judges visited in July when they were given a tour of the town, treated to a train ride and serenaded by a town choir.

And for Oswestry in Bloom chairman Natalie Bainbridge, this was key in helping the town to yet another gold.

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She said: “We’ve had another successful day at the Heart of England Awards after being named overall category winners for the second consecutive year.

“Now we're excited for our entry in the National Finals on October 23.

“This win is a testament to all the work put in by our many volunteers and of course the park team."

Meanwhile, there was another victory for the town after OsNosh Community Kitchen, based in Oak Street, won a special concessionary award for health and wellbeing.

Elliot Bastos from OsNosh said the win was not expected but something he and the rest of the team were delighted with.

He said: "I'm surprised and so pleased to accept this award which is something for our whole community team to be proud of."

The success of Oswestry in Bloom was welcome by the town’s mayor, Councillor Olly Rose, who said the result was as the result of cooperative hard work across the town.

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She said: This has been a great joint project between the town council and in bloom volunteers.

“We've made our town look lovely, involved lots of community projects and it’s great to receive recognition in a competition with some really high standard other entries, and win."

Cllr Rose attended the ceremony to represent the town with Natalie and Elliot who all picked up awards and certificates.