LEOMINSTER'S joy over winning a Heart of England in Bloom gold medal three years after entering the contest for the first time is tinged with sadness.

The town's triumph is also the swansong of its driving force Angela Pendleton, who encouraged and cajoled residents and traders to pick up litter and festoon the town with flowers.

The former personnel manager, who runs a plant nursery at Upper Hill, is quitting as leader of the group that worked for the prize, Leominster People in Partnership.

Mrs Pendleton, who was presented with a personal award by Heart of England Tourism at the bloom contest awards ceremony, is stepping down to concentrate on her nursery.

"I am resigning as the PIP co-ordinator at our annual meeting on September 20 - no one is indispensable," she said. "My business has been on hold and I need to move it forward."

She was absolutely delighted at Leominster's success and said she would be retaining links with the bloom contest by training as a regional competition judge.

Former mayor Pauline Davies who attended the awards ceremony in Birmingham Cathedral, which she described as one of Leominster's proudest days, paid tribute to Mrs Pendleton.

"She is a human dynamo. She has worked like a slave to get a gold for Leominster and she has got it.

"This has raised Leominster sky high and it's great for tourism - watch out Ludlow."

Contest judges who visited Leominster praised green-fingered children at the Junior School, floral displays in the town's streets, a maturing medieval-style knot garden at Grange Court and Mr Granger - a 12ft metal man sprouting thousands of plants.

They noted the town's "well-cared for appearance" and revealed what clinched their award decision.

A colourful community-made mosaic brightening up an underpass on the approach to the town's millennium wood was "wonderful - without doubt the highlight of the visit", they said.

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