Ilkeston is a regular contender in the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain In Bloom Competition and this year was no exception. Most approaches to the town were marked with a fine flower arrangement like this one on Derby Road.

Many of the lighting columns in the town centre were also decorated "hanging basket" style with sponsorship being provided by local individuals or businesses.

Late evening sunshine in the early part of the week (before the rains came) gave people the opportunity to sit in Victoria Park and admire the flower beds that had been expertly prepared by Council's Parks and Leisure Department.

The geraniums in this bed also at Victoria Park looked wonderful when I took this photo but since then the heavy rain has dashed them down and most of the colour has disappeared. The building opposite across the road is Victoria Court, a residential retirement home. The site on which it stands used to be the home of the Miner's Welfare Institute.

These raised beds outside the Fire Station at the junction of Oakwell Drive and Derby Road are just three of several dotted about the town. A strategically placed seat is the ideally placed to view the flowers.

And in front of the Town Hall in the Market Place, a small railway wagon provides a novel container for yet another display to brighten the town. Ilkeston did not win through to the finals of the competition but the efforts of the Council workers have not passed by unappreciated.