BEAUTIFUL blooms which have adorned Saltburn this summer will be around a while longer - if community workers can raise enough money to pay for extra watering.

The volunteer Saltburn 500 club needs about £500 to meet the cost of keeping the floral decorations intact. Members think the effort is worthwhile because the blooms have been the best yet.

Club spokesman, Miss Jackie Taylor, said: "The display should have finished this week, but the flowers are so beautiful we think they are worth another week's watering. Everyone has been saying the display has been the best ever."

The flowers were put in place for judging of Saltburn's entries in the Northumbria in Bloom and Britain in Bloom contests. The club is organising fundraising stalls and calling in a few debts to pay for the extra work.

Miss Taylor said the floral displays were complemented by eye-catching figures made by a volunteer, Mrs Joan St Vaughan, who fashioned figures from straw and plastic which were placed at the entrance to the town. They show a woman with a child and an umbrella, and a fisherman with a boy.

"Lots of people have remarked on how good the figures are," said Miss Taylor. "Mrs St Vaughan makes these as a contribution to keeping the town looking good."

In the past, she made straw puppets for Saltburn carnival and was persuaded to take this a stage further for the bloom challenges.

"I enjoyed making the puppets," she said, "but they were made from papir mch and wire which are not suitable for these purposes."

So she found some old clothes, put a plastic pattern underneath and stuffed the figures with straw. Hats were fitted on heads, a piece of wood became a backbone and coat-hangers have helped keep the figures in shape.

"I just made them to make people smile as they went by," she said.

The figure of the woman was dressed to match the town's recent Victorian weekend with just the use of a shawl and a period hat. The fisherman has a clay pipe.

"I have had a lot of teasing about all this," said Mrs St Vaughan. "It's not really a hobby. I just like messing about, and if it helps the community that's great."