Nearly 40,000 daffodils, 150 schoolchildren, 50 University of Exeter students and staff, over 200 community volunteers and 20 town organisations, ensured the Falmouth Spring Festival got off to the brightest start possible.

Sunshine and showers, greeted the opening of the event but didn’t deter the army of helpers and supporters who worked alongside the Falmouth BID, who organise the festival, to ensure that springtime well and truly got underway in Falmouth.

The festival launched on Thursday with Paint the Town Yellow Day which saw pupils from Falmouth's five primary schools taking part, supported by staff from the University of Exeter, who distributed the thousands of daffodils donated to the town team from Greenyard Flowers of Penzance, to town businesses, organisations and passers-by.

Then came two Spring Clean Days when a record-breaking number of volunteers donned gardening gloves, overalls and wellies to tackle numerous street, garden and coastal areas in what turned out to be the biggest volunteer cleaning and gardening effort in the festival’s history.

And in true Falmouth style, business, residential and student communities supported and worked alongside the BID including the University of Exeter, Cormac, Falmouth Town Council, Falmouth Bay Residents Association, Falmouth District Hotels Association, Greenbank Hotel, Santander, Falmouth University, Swanpool Beach, Atlantic Scuba, Fathom’s Free and Falmouth Civic Society.

Rounding off the successful weekend was a free Sunday rock-pooling session on Castle Beach, led by Professor Tom Tregenza and Angela Bartlett from the University of Exeter. Nearly 60 people discovered some of the abundance of wildlife that inhabits the Cornish coast.

Richard Wilcox, Falmouth BID Manager said: “The opening weekend’s success is a credit to the Falmouth community who have supported the festival so well. It is terrific that so many people of all ages and walks of life have given up their time to ensure that the activities have run smoothly and generated a positive impact for the town."

Ruth Grimmer from the University of Exeter, which sponsors the festival, added: “I personally love walking through town and seeing all the daffodils and how it unites people – such a simple gesture but one which has such a lovely impact on everyone.

"The event sees Falmouth come to life with such vibrant colour to celebrate the start of spring. As part of the community it is great to see so many volunteering across a range of initiatives and the different events and activities that people have been involved in. It is great too to see events taking place at our Penryn Campus, which is open to all.”

The festival runs until April 2 and still to come are the Folk and Cider Fayre on Events Square from Friday to Sunday; games and fitness on The Moor on Sunday; a programme of guided walks and Science in Pub.

Full details can be found at falmouth.co.uk.