STAFF at Nantwich Community Fire Station have been awarded a silver medal in this year's Nantwich in Bloom competition.

The medal was won after firefighter Des Evans and Watch Manager John Grocott transformed the station into a floral spectacle, with plants donated by the crew filling hanging baskets and it's well tended flower beds.

It is the fifth year that the station has received an award in the prestigious competition where judges, including Margaret Thrower, daughter of the late celebrity gardener Percy Thrower, secretly visit on a number of occasions to assess the displays.

Watch manager John Grocott said: “We are delighted to have been recognised again in this competition.

"As a community fire station we are always pleased to support initiatives which make Nantwich a safer and better place in which to live and work.

"Our station is in a prominent location in the town and we are pleased to have contributed to the town effort.”

Competition was tough with judges looking at a range of issues including floral features, permanent planting, planting for nature, at other areas such as cleanliness and responding to litter, graffiti, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Nantwich and Crewe Fire Cadets spent a weekend helping on the Nantwich Railway Station garden, which won a special award, and planted flowers and plants in Nantwich Town Square in preparation for the competition