After impressing judges at the international Communities in Bloom contest last year, volunteers from Wisbech in Bloom are determined to keep the plaudits coming.

The dedicated team have also scooped gold in the Anglia in Bloom awards for three consecutive years as well as being judged the best large town in Britain in 2009.

But Penny Stocks, of Wisbech in Bloom, said the volunteers are working on bigger and bolder plans to make the Fenland town sparkle this year.

She said: 'After such great results in recent years, it is difficult to keep improving and maintain our high standards.

'But we are focused on getting another gold in Anglia in Bloom this year and the icing on the cake would be winning the best large town category and being put forward for Britain in Bloom again.

'We have quite a few new projects going on at the moment and our biggest success so far this year has been getting every school in the area gardening – it's something we've never done before.

'The theme for the schools is simply 'wildlife' and we are really pushing the schools on this because hopefully when some of our volunteers step down, there will be people coming through who want to make the town as nice as it is now.'

Volunteers have also brightened up the gardens at the Wisbech and Fenland museum as well as the Carlise Garden in the town.

Mrs Stocks continued: 'I was talking to someone the other day who runs a small business and said Wisbech would look terrible without our volunteers.'

The In Bloom team normally buys plug plants from Delamore, based at Wisbech St Mary, to fill hanging baskets and containers which brighten up the town each summer.

But the Fenland nursery, which has reached half a century in business, has given the team a boost by giving the plants to the volunteers for free as part of its celebrations.