One of the organisers behind the annual Royston gardening competition – which has been running for more than 20 years in the town – has expressed her sadness that they will be suspending this year’s event as the format has become ‘stale and tired’.

Entries to the Royston in Bloom competition have been steadily diminishing over the years, and team is calling on people in the town to put forward innovative suggestions to shake things up and get more folk involved.

Working party member Lindsay Davidson said: “We are very sad we have had to suspend it. We are also desperately low on numbers in the team with many old stalwarts having left in recent years. We are now struggling to maintain our previous levels of hard work and high output of projects around the town, with so few people to help.

“When it was first set up, things were a bit more formal. It’s not working in its current format. We need to open it up to a wider range of people. The town is changing a lot with the new estates coming here, and we want to get new people involved. There’s no point flogging a dead horse.

“We are very sorry that we have had to do this and apologise to those few residents who were expecting to enter it again this year – but hope they will understand our reasons.”

The team hopes, with the help of more people, to relaunch the competition in a more simple and exciting format next year.

If you are interested in getting involved, call 01763 245484 or email town.clerk@roystontowncouncil.gov.uk.