Town given award for garden and greenhouse skills

Morpeth – a town affected by heavy flooding in 2008 – has battled back from a soggy situation to win itself a garden and greenhouse gong.

Northumbria in Bloom is part of the Britain in Bloom competition and judges stated local growers had earned the title of Best Town with their floral displays brightening up the town centre.

It stands alongside Newcastle on the list of winners announced at the award ceremony in the Freemans Quay Leisure Centre in Durham yesterday (September 14th).

Morpeth traders also picked up the prize for best shopping centre after judges were impressed by the hundreds of sponsored flower baskets and tubs financed by local businesses.

Sunderland picked up the gong for best city, piping its neighbour Newcastle to the title, despite praise for the latters floral displays around its two cathedrals and central train station.

Britain in Bloom is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, whose director-general Inga Grimsey recently decided to step down at the end of the year.