AN AMATEUR photographer from Great Harwood has won a national contest to picture a flower in bloom.

Richard Crompton, 39, rushed out into his garden to capture the image of a poppy just as the sun peered out from behind a black rain cloud.

He said: "Seconds after I took the picture it poured down.

"But the light was perfect and I think that's what managed to win it for me."

The competition was run by the BBC during the week of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

It challenged people to take a picture of a blossoming flower.

Richard's was chosen out of thousands of entries and he was invited to the event to be interviewed by TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

The former pupil of Norden High School, Rishton, who now lives in Herfordshire with his wife Julie, 48, has won a masterclass with RHS photographer Clive Nicholls at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show later this year and a new camera.