11:05am Friday 26th September 2008
A RIOT of colour in Cricklade has bagged the town a top trophy.
On Wednesday night members of the Cricklade Bloomers were at a ceremony at which they heard their town named top in its category in South West in Bloom for the second year running.
To claim the best small town accolade, the town had to fight off competition from Dartmouth and Great Torrington in Devon and Radstock in Somerset.
But its fancy flowers and perfect plants wowed the judges enough for the town to take the top prize.
"Getting things perfect was tough this year, " said Bob Jones, vice-chairman of Cricklade Bloomers.
"We had to be ready for the regional and the national competitions at the same time.
"We also had a lot of sustainable planting to do and the weather has not been good either.
"Even when the judges came it rained all day.
"But we've still won. We thought we were in with a good chance to get a gold, but we didn't think we would get best town in the south west.
"It's great to have won.
"We know that what we do is important to Cricklade because we know that people will drive here to look at what we have done.
"I'm just not sure how we'll top it next year - but we are already planning what we'll plant."
The success has not come cheap.
It is thought the cost of the blooms, and their upkeep, has topped £10,000 - mostly made up of fundraising and grants from the district and town councils.
On Wednesday night the Bloomers' group will discover if all the effort this summer was good enough to grab an even more prestigious Britain In Bloom title.
"I think our chances are pretty good, " said Anita Barratt, of the Cricklade Bloomers.
"I am pretty hopeful we'll come away with an achievement award but we'll see if we get anything more.
"At the moment the town is immaculate and I think we have achieved an extremely high standard.
"We're really proud of what we have achieved so far this year and hope that next year we can do it all again.
"Often when we're out working we are stopped by complete strangers to say what a wonderful town we have.
"They often refer to the flowers and plants and that's really nice - it's a testament to what we do."
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