HERTFORDSHIRE’S perfect parks were celebrated at an event in Royston last Thursday.

The celebration, held at the town hall, was to recognise the 40 green spaces in the county that have achieved success in the Green Flag scheme, which ranks the nation’s top parks and open spaces in terms of maintenance, sustainability and quality of facilities.

Priory Memorial Gardens in Royston was one of the sites recognised, winning a Green Flag award for the fourth year running.

Royston councillor Peter Burt is North Herts District Council’s portfolio holder for environment.

He said: “It was great to see so many of the people who help maintain Hertfordshire’s parks, commons and other green spaces come together to celebrate this success. A lot of hard work goes into winning one of these awards, but the biggest thank you goes to the many volunteers and local groups who offer their time to help us provide outstanding spaces for people of all ages to enjoy.”

Speakers from Keep Britain Tidy, the Parks Alliance, Heritage Lottery Fund and the Countryside Management Trust highlighted the importance of top quality green spaces and the positive effect they have, before the award winners were presented with their certificates.

Guests were taken on a tour of the Priory Memorial Gardens to illustrate the ways the site is used by the community, one of the key features of a successful Green Flag park.

The winners were revealed at the end of July, and the Memorial Gardens is one of four green spaces managed by the district council now recognised with the award, the others being Oughtonhead Common in Hitchin and Howard Park and Gardens and Norton Common in Letchworth GC.