SHOPS and businesses around Malvern have helped turn the town into a winter wonderland by taking part in a Christmas window competition.

Organised by Malvern Town Council, the competition attracted more than 40 entries from all over town, including Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Barnards Green.

With so many entries and the quality so high, mayor Julian Roskams and Malvern library manager Delphine Telfer praised the “fantastic effort” and said it was a very tough decision settling on the winners. They eventually decided to give the top honours to the Oxfam store in Great Malvern, the Age UK shop in Malvern Link and Just So in Barnards Green.

Each of the winners received a packed festive hamper donated by sponsor Waitrose.

Jane Knowles, owner of Just So, said: “We were really pleased to win and have been enjoying tucking into the prize,”

she said.

The theme for this year’s competition was “The Night Before Christmas” and Mrs Knowles believes her store’s slightly unusual interpretation of the idea helped it to success.

“We tried to do something slightly different and imagine what the Three Kings would have been doing on the night before Christmas,” she said.