‘The more people enter, the longer Battle of Flowers will go on for’

Some regular entrants in the annual event are keen to continue inspiring people to enter and to show off their hard work.

‘Apart from the fact I really quite enjoy doing it, the Battle of Flowers will die if people don’t keep entering,’ said float creator Denise Fawcett.

‘It’s on its last legs.

‘I don’t know if we’ll even keep going, maybe we’ll have to switch to paper flowers, because the quality of some of the paper flowers is brilliant.’

The Fawcett family’s floating genie and Aladdin-themed float wowed the crowd.

‘We saw a street performer in Malaga which is what gave us the idea – the genie is suspended and not supported by anything, and we thought that would make a great float,’ said Mrs Fawcett.

‘The whole family are French and come to visit me every summer, so in August we do this and it would be a shame if it no longer went ahead.’

The float used real flowers, which Mrs Fawcett said makes it more difficult as the frame has to support the weight.

Their flowers came from Holland and the metal to create the frame was provided by BTS.

Vanessa Harris is another name that people will recognise from the Battle of Flowers brochure and schedule, due to her many entries over the years.

‘Ness is the master creator, and this year she’s gone with an ‘80s theme, so we’ve got Optimus Prime, Care Bears, and Postman Pat,’ said fellow float creator and team member Laura Le Maitre.

‘Ness wants to help keep it all going.

;The more people will enter, the longer the Battle of Flowers will go on for.’

The 80s is the team’s favourite era, and seeing as they turned 50 this year, they dedicated their entries as a nod to the decade.

Ms Harris took part as Postman Pat with Ms Le Maitre as Jess the cat.

‘We start in the winter, ordering paper to make the flowers and finding fancy dress items,’ said Ms Le Maitre.

‘We’ll get together over the winter, have chips and make paper flowers.’