NORTH Berwick in Bloom officials are jumping for joy after the town struck gold at the 2010 Britain in Bloom awards.

Last Wednesday’s awards ceremony in Birmingham saw North Berwick judged best coastal town with a population under 12,000.

Lytham, one of five other category finalists, was also awarded gold - but North Berwick took the title because it scored more points overall.

Elma Danks (treasurer), Peter Atkins (chairman) and Sheila Sinclair (secretary) from the local group were present at the Centennial Centre to receive the prestigious award at the ceremony, hosted by BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Alys Fowler.

Said Mrs Danks: “We are absolutely delighted, ecstatic, to have won this award.

“The highest we’ve ever been placed before was for a silver gilt. By winning gold, we have scored more than 180 points out of the 200 available, so that’s a phenomenal achievement.

“It’s been a difficult year for North Berwick In Bloom, with cutbacks from the council meaning that we’ve had to take on a lot of extra planting duties ourselves.

“We have also had to self-fund the purchase of a new portable watering system for the many hanging baskets and boxes we’ve positioned around the town and at the railway station.” Said chair of the group Mr Atkins: “Achieving a gold is a tremendous boost for the town as it attracts a lot of positive publicity. We always hope that our efforts add to the pleasure of living in, or visiting, North Berwick.

“Clearly, the judges enjoyed their time here and were impressed by the overall cleanliness of the town and the range and quality of our projects, possible only through a combination of individual efforts and local partnerships.” The latest honour for North Berwick follows last year’s success in the Beautiful Scotland competition, when the town was named overall winner for the second time.

More than 1,100 communities across Britain had entered the Britain in Bloom awards, which are run by the Royal Horticultural Society. Sixty-six finalists were chosen to represent their region and nation in last week’s UK finals.

This year has seen a bumper crop of entries into the national finals, with many achieving top medals despite difficult economic times and a severe winter and late spring.

To find out more about the work of the team, visit www.northber wickinbloom.org.uk