The hard work of volunteers was recognised on Friday when judges were given a tour of Helston's floral displays.

The Helston in Bloom group may only have branched out on its own earlier this year, but they have already made a big difference to parts of the town.

These were among the areas shown to Royal Horticultural Society judges who visited the town as part of this year's South West in Bloom competition.

They included the flower beds in front of the search and rescue helicopter at the edge of RNAS Culdrose, the work carried out with Tesco staff in the 'secret garden' at the top of Trengrouse Way car park and the 'Welcome to Helston' sign at Sithney Common Hill that was planted up by Helston WI.

Erica Clark, from Helston in Bloom, said: "It was an opportunity to look at Helston through the eyes of the two RHS judges, to evaluate the work that we have completed and to plan future projects taking into account where improvement is necessary."

Although the group will not receive the judges' written comments for several weeks, as they walked through the town, accompanied by Helston's mayor Gillian Geer, members were able to pick up some indications of how they were thinking.

"They were impressed with the number of organisations and individuals who have contributed this year and urged us to continue recruiting others. A large part of the bloom activity is about getting the whole community involved," added Mrs Clark.

The judges were also invited to look around the gardens of the residents at The Clies and see the town's hanging baskets supported by the businesses, which both drew positive compliments.

They were shown the refurbished Grylls Monument and Martin Matthews talked about the history of the town.

The judges recognised that much work was still needed at Coronation Park and boating lake and said they will be interested to see what progress is made by next year.

Helston in Bloom volunteers now face a nervous few weeks before finding out how the town has fared in the competition.

Last year the group won a silver award on the first time of entering.