THE people of Richmond are being urged to make the town as colourful as possible.

The Richmond Business and Tourism Association has entered this year’s Britain in Bloom awards, a community gardening campaign to transform our cities, towns and villages.

The Aassociation has entered the Grow Your Community category, which is judged on horticultural excellence, gardens and floral displays, environmental responsibility and community participation.

As a non-competitive category, it means Richmond will be judged on the standard now and how much improvement has been achieved over the next few months.

The effort is being led by the RBTA working alongside Richmond Town Council and the charity Just the Job.

Association chair Marcia McLuckie said: “We cannot do this on our own and we are calling on as many people as possible to get involved."

The organisers are now calling on residents, business owners, school teachers and children and those who work and shop in the town to get involved.

"Hanging baskets, tubs, gardens, public spaces, windows, notice boards, verges and more all need to be looking their best and the more flowers the merrier," said Mrs McLuckie.

She added: "A group of judges from Yorkshire in Bloom have paid us a visit and on a preliminary assessment believe we are already capable of achieving a silver-gilt award, but let’s go for that gold standard.

For more contact Marcia McLuckie on 01748-825525 or 07740 927608. Details and updates will be available on the website originalrichmond.co.uk