28th January 2010

‘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...

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 Stoneleigh Park,

Warwickshire, from March 19-21 2010. 

Eunice

has become a cult figure in Midlands

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 Rookery Primary School

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

UK’s

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.

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