Their smiles lit up a dark, dank morning as members of Wisbech in Bloom gathered at St Peter’s Church gardens today to celebrate their success in the Britain in Bloom competition.

It wasn’t quite the famous victory they were hoping for at the national awards ceremony in Cleethorpes on Saturday night but it was a close-run thing. They came away with a Silver Gilt medal in the “large towns” category – and with glowing praise from the judges.

Brian Massingham, chairman of Wisbech in Bloom, said: “We shouldn’t be disappointed. When you think how we were a few years ago and where we are now, this is a fantastic achievement. I’m very proud of what everyone’s done. We’ve all worked together as a team and we couldn’t do it without all the help we’ve had from Bob Ollier at FDC and his colleagues.”

Councillor Peter Murphy, Fenland District Council’s Cabinet member responsible for the environment, said: “It’s a terrific result. For a relatively small place like Wisbech to have come a high third out of everyone in the whole country is absolutely brilliant. Everyone involved has worked really hard – they’ve put in a huge amount of time and effort and they fully deserve what they’ve got.”

Bob Ollier, FDC’s parks and open spaces manager, said: “I’d say that in the past 10 years, this year has been the best ever display of flowers, the best ever year for new projects and the best ever year where community participation has enabled the town’s entry for both Anglia in Bloom and Britain in Bloom to be such a brilliant one.”

In their report the judges said all those involved in the work in Wisbech had “made a huge difference to this Georgian market town”. They said: “There was good community participation throughout the town and an obvious pride in what was being achieved.”

And they gave a special mention to the attention that had been paid to the Edible Britain campaign, describing the large herb border planted near the Boathouse as “a revelation”.