THE Theme of this year’s Marlborough in Bloom entry will be birds but the emphasis will be on encouraging the wider community to swoop in to clean up the town.

In a bid to banish litter from the streets of the town in general and the High Street in particular the group held a meeting to discuss their plans for 2018.

Chairman Steve Pascall said: “We all agree that we need the help of the community to make Marlborough in Bloom a success. We are going to organise an event to get people involved with what we are doing to.

“I think people need to be more educated about the effect of litter to get the message across that it will benefit the community and not just Marlborough in Bloom.”

The committee, headed by new chairman Mr Pascall have also set out their hopes to increase awareness in young people about growing and caring about the environment.

They will be going into schools in the run up to the competition and help pupils dig deep to find out about gardening.

Last year the town gained the highest award possible in the annual completion after being elevated to the Champion of Champions category and scooping the gold award.

Cllr Andy Wilson said: “It was a very successful meeting to kick off the new campaign for Marlborough in bloom.

“I am working with Marlborough in Bloom to recruit some more volunteers and we are very hopeful to have as much success as last year or even better.”

Marlborough Mayor, Mervyn Hall, said: “The litter picking plans are part of a national spring clean initiative that Marlborough will be participating in.”

A national spring clean event is being held in March and coincide with an increased focus on making the streets of Marlborough a cleaner place.

Both the Marlborough in Bloom committee and the Town council will be donning their marigolds with volunteers, as towns and cities across the country take part in the Great British Spring Clean.

Wayne Dixon, the Great British Spring Clean campaign’s first litter picking ambassador, said: “I am very proud of Keep Britain Tidy for this fantastic initiative, which aims to deliver education throughout Britain on the issues of litter and the effects it is having on our country, our communities, people’s well being, on wildlife and the environment.

“Education with this issue is over due and urgently needed.”