A COMMUNITY group which has brought a host of golden daffodils to a city's bypass has won praise for its war on litter louts.

Members of Ripon Rotary Club dug in to support a litter awareness week and cleared up so much rubbish that they have been awarded a special trophy to mark their outstanding efforts.

Former Mayor of Ripon John Richmond, the club's environmental officer, said they had collected more than 160 bags of rubbish from the bypass and near the Market Place. Rubbish had also been cleaned up in Boroughbridge Road and Gallows Hill.

The club has received a trophy from Harrogate Borough Council for backing the anti-litter initiative.

Mr Richmond said the club was not sitting back, despite the award.

"What has pleased me now is that several schools are working with us in efforts to keep the anti-litter bandwaggon rolling," he said.

Following a number of community efforts sparked by the Rotary Club, more than 160,000 daffodils have been planted alongside the Ripon bypass and on other routes into the city.

It follows a Ripon tradition of planting roadside daffodils which started in 1937, and which gave the banks on the A61 entrance from Harrogate the nickname Daffodil Bends.