Dartmouth Green Partnerships volunteers are celebrating having won Gold at the South West in Bloom Awards held last Friday.

Dartmouth Green Partnerships was originally called Dartmouth in Bloom and has been running for over 50 years becoming Dartmouth Green Partnerships and a charity around 2011.

The Secretary Kathy Stansfield explains why they changed the name and structure: “We thought it would have a broader appeal and the idea was that we'd be an umbrella group for helping preserve the green spaces in Dartmouth.

“It's not just a matter of planting along the riverfront and for tourists and residents to enjoy planting. “We actually want to help preserve the green spaces as well in Dartmouth and we look after a lot of green spaces in different parts of the town.”

RHS Judge Ian Cawley came down in July and Kathy said he certainly got his steps in: “We've a huge amount to show any judge because we start at the top of town.

“We've got the edges of Coronation Park, we've got all the planters along the riverfront there's about 60 of 60 troughs on the riverfront, boats with plants in and we're constantly being told told by visitors how much they like to come to Dartmouth to see our planting which is nice.

“This year, Dartmouth Town Council helped us by letting the Royal Avenue Guards be part of our entry.”

Dartmouth Green Partnerships have around 15 volunteers and they usually meet at 10am on Monday at their HQ at the community greenhouse.

Funds were raised for it and they received two grants from the Postcode Lottery.

Earlier this year the group won the Green Flag Award who are managed in the UK by Keep Britain Tidy,

They were subject to blind judging and won on both arrangements.