IT was a real a gala occasion as one of the main events in Cowdenbeath's calendar proved to be blooming marvellous.

The annual flower show brought a riot of colours and beautiful displays to the Trinity Church halls on Saturday and Sunday.

There were also massive marrows, plenty of prizes to win in the raffle and knitted goods galore for charities as the event was proclaimed a big hit.

It's organised by Cowdenbeath Horticultural Society and chairman Colin Bird said: "The theme this year was 'Gala Day' to help celebrate Cowdenbeath's 40th gala.

"The first thing we do as a committee is to decorate the church and have a centrepiece which is gala-related.

"So we had a gala queen dress, crown and sash, we had an area that resembled the park where the games are played and lorries made up as floats.

"It worked really well."

He laughed: "The committee go daft at me every year as I come up with these ideas and then leave them to it!

"This was a difficult one to do but they were tremendous, someone would come up with an idea and that'd lead to another one, it all fell into place and it was a stunning display.

"The school, nurseries and church groups have the same theme so they decorated their alcoves with collages and poems about the gala.

It's been a summer to remember in Fife with glorious sunshine and soaring temperatures, but Colin said he feared the annual show could suffer as a result.

He explained: "With the good weather we had earlier in the summer, it brought so many flowers on quicker and, this being one of the later shows, I thought we might struggle.

"But once again the exhibitors really pulled it out with some brilliant displays and the benches were full.

"There were some exceptional displays. There were marrows over three stones in weight – I've never seen anything like that at Cowdenbeath before – and the charity knit we had over 550 items.

"We normally average around 200-300 items so that was amazing. It was mostly blankets, cardigans, dressed dolls and some toys and they'll go to charities, the Salvation Army, hospitals and as Christmas presents for those people who don't have much."

Colin paid tribute to all the people who make the event a success and added: "There's a lot of hard work and we start building in the church the Sunday before the flower show, and do bits and pieces during the week.

"We're very fortunate with the support we get from the church and we have a lot of people, not on the committee, who come and help and without them we would struggle.

"When you see it all come together and how successful it is, looking round the benches, full halls and all the visitors, then you stand back and think 'It was all worth it'."

The raffle winners were: Helen Heggie, Sandra Smith, Alicia Howatt, Donna Henderson, Robert Greegan, Richard Chandler, Rita Rattray, Elizabeth Cran, Jackie Leonard and Mrs Bryson. The list of prize winners will be included in next week's paper.