‘First Lady’ of allotments supports The Edible Garden Show
Inspirational
‘First Lady’ of allotments and ‘Pride of Britain’ winner Eunice McGhie-Belgrave
MBE is backing UK’s ultimate ‘Grow Your Own’ event – The Edible Garden Show.
Eunice,
who has inspired countless children to grow and cook their own vegetables, has
given her full support to the first-ever national show dedicated exclusively to
‘Grow Your Own’ fruit and vegetables.
This
amazing 75-year-old community worker was joined today (Wednesday 27th
January) by youngsters from Birmingham’s Rookery Primary School at the Shades
of Black allotments in Handsworth to promote The Edible Garden Show.
Eunice
gave the schoolchildren a master class in home-grown vegetables during the show’s
official press launch.
Eunice
says: “I’m delighted to support this fantastic new event. It’s high time the
gardening world had a national show to celebrate the work of gardeners who grow
their own fruit and vegetables. I know how popular ‘Grow Your Own’ is with the
public and I’m sure there will be terrific support for the show.”
The
Edible Garden Show is being staged at
Warwickshire, from March 19-21 2010.
Eunice
has become a cult figure in
gardening circles since she launched the Shades of Black allotments project in
1985 to heal and unite an area devastated by the Handsworth riots. She was
awarded an MBE in 2002 for her work and last year won the Daily Mirror ‘Pride
of Britain’ award.
Her
thriving allotments scheme introduces city youngsters to the joy of growing
their own food. Teachers and pupils from
make regular visits to her Handsworth allotments to learn about gardening. And
produce from the allotments is distributed to elderly people and local day care
centres.
Just
as Eunice continues to encourage young people to develop horticultural skills
alongside their academic work, The Edible Garden Show 2010 is dedicated to
providing a one-stop-shop for anyone harbouring an inner desire and passion to
grow their own fruit and vegetables.
As
first-ever national garden show launched amid the phenomenal explosion of
interest in home-grown food, The Edible Garden Show is a ‘must-see’ event for
seasoned gardeners and complete novices.
The
show has already won official endorsements from two of the most high-profile
organisations in the gardening and agriculture world – the National Society of
Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG), which boasts 103,000 members in the UK
at over 2,000 allotment societies, and the Royal Agricultural Society of
England.
The
National Federation of Women’s Institutes are also supporting the show with
cookery demonstrations to be conducted at the event by the WI’s National
Cookery School.