THE Mayor of Barnsley Coun Dave Leech praised the winners of this year’s Barnsley in Bloom competition at a special event.

Nine-year-old Hano Rasol from Joseph Locke Primary School was chosen as the winner from over 300 entries.

The design features the iconic ‘V’ for victory sign and flowers being dropped from a plane to celebrate VE and VJ day, which was the theme for this year’s competition.

Two runners up were also chosen with designs by Lily, aged five, from Jump Primary School and Samuel Wright, aged 11, from Wombwell Park Street Primary picked as infant and junior runner up respectively.

The council’s winner and runners up were chosen by the mayor who also selected his favourite design, which was drawn by Oliver Smith, aged eight, from Ellis Church of England Primary School.

Coun James Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment and highways, said: “Our annual Barnsley in Bloom competition always sees a huge number of high-quality entries and this year’s was no different with over 300 entries from 11 different schools from across the borough.

“It’s great to see children across the borough continuing to get involved with Barnsley in Bloom, everything it represents and the competition theme of celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day.

“I know our judging panel had their work cut out choosing a winner and the runners up out of so many entries, but they felt that Hano’s design really fulfilled the brief that was set out in this year’s competition.”