ABERGAVENNY Town Council and the town's in bloom committee are aiming to build on last year's success.

The groups want to enhance the displays of flowers in the town this summer. The Town Council has already committed £8,000 towards the planting and watering of tubs and beds in strategic places in the town.

Members are now keen to encourage shops, banks and building societies to follow suit and to play their part in attracting people to visit the town by putting up hanging baskets and window boxes.

"Last year a number of businesses, mainly national concerns rather than local ones, did not take part so that large areas of the town were not decorated with flowers" said Mayor, councillor John Prosser.

"We are trying to persuade them to join in, to improve people's interest in the town, and to come back as often as possible to shop here. This will be good for the businesses in the town.

"In these difficult economic times it is even more important that we do what we can to keep trade in the town healthy, and by purchasing a hanging basket or two for the summer, traders will be doing themselves a favour as well as the residents of the town. We are encouraging all businesses to take part."

" Growfast Nurseries in conjunction with the Town Council and the Abergavenny in Bloom Committee will be sending out flyers to all businesses in the town in the next week or so, and we hope that they will get a good response from local traders and the national firms operating in the town," said Mrs Mary Ann O`Higgins, Chair of the Abergavenny in Bloom Committee, "This is a really simple way of marketing the town to visitors as a pleasant place to visit, and we should all play our part in trying to weather the economic storm," she said.

For anyone who is interested and does not get a flyer they can contact the Town Clerk for further details, [email protected]">[email protected] or 01873 853817.