Penwortham school pupils plant seed to finals

4:55pm Monday 14th July 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Children at a Penwortham primary school have made it to the finals of a competition to grow the best fruit and vegetables.

Over the last four months the children at Broad Oak Primary School have been busy growing cucumbers, lettuce, peas and carrots for the ‘Booths Grow Your Own’ fruit and vegetable competition, which is part of the national Year of Food and Farming.

The children presented their story of planting the seeds, weeding, watering and harvesting their crops in a creative PowerPoint presentation using photos of each stage.

It was judged against 32 other primary school entries from across the North West and Yorkshire.

Children and teachers from Broad Oak Primary and two other schools will now attend the final round of the competition at Booths Central office on Wednesday.

The schools will take a selection of the fruit and vegetables they have grown to the final and the children will also get the chance to tell the judging panel what makes their entry a winner.

The judging panel will comprise Eric Robson, Chairman of the BBC’s Gardeners’ Question Time programme; two of Booths’ fresh produce experts Matthew Bruno and Val Gibson; and Peter Ascroft, an expert cauliflower producer.

Eric Robson commented: “Gardening is a very enjoyable activity and growing your own produce can be very rewarding.

"This competition and the Year of Food and Farming has been a great way for children to learn more about what is involved in growing good quality, healthy food.

“The schools that have taken part in the competition have obviously put in a lot of hard work so I’m looking forward to seeing some of their fruit and vegetables the children have grown.”

The winning school will be presented with £1,500 for their school to spend on gardening or cooking equipment for use in lessons.

Mrs Ashton, a teacher at Broad Oak Primary who organised the children’s entry into the competition, said: “We are very excited about being selected for the final presentations.

"The children are really looking forward to speaking to the judges about their entry and what they enjoyed most from the competition.”

Booths' Val Gibson said: “There have been some fantastic entries into the competition and it is obvious that lots of time and effort has gone into each entry.

"It really has been an honour to be involved in the judging and I am looking forward to the final presentations next week.

“It is important that all children have a healthy, balanced diet and growing fruit and vegetables is a fun and easy way for children of all ages to learn about how things grow and where their food comes from.”

The other two finalists are Goostrey Community Primary School in Cheshire and St Michael’s Primary School from Dalston in Carlisle.

Booths launched the ‘Grow Your Own’ fruit and vegetable competition in February.

The Year of Food and Farming, which ends this month, is an industry-led initiative first proposed by Farming and Countryside Education (FACE).

It is aimed at helping young people learn more about how food is grown and how it reaches the consumer.

It is hoped that the year will help to reconnect young people with food, farming and the countryside.