COMMUNITIES across Monmouthshire are celebrating victories in the annual Wales in Bloom competition.

Usk has retained its Wales in Bloom Large Village crown for the 35th consecutive time thanks to the work of the community group Usk in Bloom.

The marks awarded were the village's highest for eight years and covered three main areas: horticultural achievement, environmental responsibility and community participation.

According to Usk in Bloom's chairman Tony Kear, more than 40 organisations were involved in putting together Usk's floral displays.

He added: "Our team and absolutely delighted with the result and such highly complementary words from the judges which truly recognised the massive all round effort from the whole of the town in so many aspects of the judging criteria.

The staff of Usk Church in Wales Primary School also made the long journey to the award presentation in Prestatyn to receive the prize for best School in Wales.

In the Village category, Mathern with Pwllmeyric and Mounton won gold in the Village competition.

Chairman Greg Howell reflected that in the last few years the group has continually improved its entry and he was very pleased for Gold in recognition of all the hard work the community has put in.

He added "I would like to thank everyone who have done their bit. I hope it will raise our profile and lead to more people and companies being involved."

The community group are set to compete in the Gwent Best Kept Village competition next month as well as the national Britain in loom awards ceremony, where they will be the only community representing Monmouthshire.

Elsewhere, Abergavenny in Bloom and Raglan in Bloom were awarded the Silver Gilt 2nd prize in their respective Town and Large Village categories.

Nigel Leaworthy, Monmouthshire County Council's Commercial and Operations Manager congratulated the county entries, saying: "It's an honour for us to support our local communities in their endeavours to constantly improve their environments.