First class garden for a flower show

Bus shelter garden created by IF Oldham at RHS Tatton Park Flower Show

TWO gardens are flying the flag for Oldham at the hugely popular Tatton Flower Show.

Pupils from Higher Failsworth Primary School were highly commended by the judges for their colourful garden inspired by the character of Rabbit from "Winnie the Pooh".

And community groups have also come together to transform a bus stop into an imaginative fruit and veg garden.

It's the third year Higher Failsworth has taken part in the school garden competition at the Royal Horticultural Society show at Tatton Park in Cheshire which attracts thousands of visitors.

Pupils had to create a garden for an animal from a children's book and the school's gardening club designed and built the garden, with children from all years making different elements.

Claire-Louise Yates, the school's special education needs co-ordinator who worked with the pupils, said: "I'm really pleased at how it turned out. I am so proud of the pupils and it always amazes me what they come up with.

Inspires

"Everything in the garden has been recycled and the children have got so much out of doing it. It is hard work but when you come here and see the look on their faces, it's worth it."

Incredible Futures (IF) Oldham is one of five gardens created around bus stops.

It shows how food can be grown in limited space and also has a solar powered fridge with free, leftover food donated by Morrisons supermarket.

It was a collaboration between the community groups IF Oldham which works to improve people's wellbeing and the local environment; Oldham Community Power which installs solar panels on schools and community buildings; The Real Junkfood Oldham which runs pop-up cafes serving food made from surplus supermarket ingredients and the Veg in the Park community garden in Waterhead Park.

Nikki Davies, from IF Oldham, said: "It's been hard work because it has all been done by volunteers in between our jobs.

"We think it really represents Oldham's growing groups and we couldn't have done it without Veg in the Park which has grown all the plants."

The show runs until Sunday.