FINGERPOST Community Group has won a regional competition to win a summer day out courtesy of Arriva and Merlin Entertainments to Blackpool.

Following a North West wide search to find and reward a local community group to win a dream day out, Fingerpost Community group has been crowned the winner of the competition after going head-to-head with two other local community groups.

The competition, which launched to celebrate Catch the Bus Week, (July 2 to 8) invited the public to nominate community groups across the North West which they believed deserved to win a free day out.

After a staggering number of entries, a panel of Arriva judges deliberated over all applications and whittled it down to a shortlist of three groups from the North West including Team Oasis and People First Merseyside which was then put to a public vote where more than 2,100 people voted.

Fingerpost Community group works to help local families and support businesses in the area of Fingerpost.

Chairman Harold Murphy said: "I am thrilled to learn that our group has been selected as the winner for the free day out in Blackpool, I never thought that when I entered the group in the competition that we could actually be the victors.

"I would like to thank everyone that voted for us and in particular for the community of Fingerpost, as well as a huge thank you to Arriva and Merlin Entertainments for running such a fantastic competition.”

Fingerpost Community group will enjoy an amazing day out in Blackpool where they will visit The Blackpool Tower and SEA LIFE Blackpool, including return transport on an Arriva bus, as a thank you for the incredible impact their work has on the local community.

Lisa Pearson, head of marketing for Arriva North West added: “We are thrilled that Fingerpost Community group are the very worthy winners of our competition, and we hope they enjoy a very well deserved day out.

"It was incredibly tough shortlisting the three final groups as all of the nominations we received were fantastic.

"We’d like to thank the public for all their excellent suggestions. It was great to see how greatly people care about their local communities in the North West.”

To find out more visit arriva.co.uk/ctbw.