Wilkinson Sword Garden Tools has launched a new campaign designed to get school children gardening.
To enter, pupils simply have to design a fruit and vegetable garden for their school, and send their design in by November 30 2016. The winning school will receive £180 worth of tools to be used in school, as well as a visit from Lucas Hatch who has been recognised as a Young Gardener of the Year by the RHS, when he was just 10 years old. Lucas (pictured) is now just approaching his 14th birthday, but has a wealth of experience under his belt already and knows all about encouraging children to garden. Not only this, but he also spends a lot of time at his old primary school, helping children to develop their gardens.
While many of the schools already have flourishing gardening projects, initial talks with them made it clear that they would appreciate a bit of a point in the right direction. For this reason, Wilkinson Sword enlisted the help of gardening expert Martin Fish, to provide top tips and to be on the judging panel. Martin writes for several gardening publications including Garden News and Kitchen Garden, as well as being a RHS Garden Advisor, and a judge of show gardens and nursery displays at RHS shows. In July this year, he chaired the panel that judged the school gardens at the RHS Hampton Court show so he’s well-practiced in school gardening.
Wilkinson Sword garden division general manager Nick Hills commented: “We are really excited about this project. We are passionate about getting children in the garden, and are confident that this will get them inspired and motivated about getting their hands dirty, and their tummies full of home grown food! We are really looking forward to seeing the designs.”
The gardening tool brand has strong connection to the Oxfordshire area, with the headquarters of Wilkinson Sword distributor E P Barrus Ltd being based in Bicester. As such, the organisation is passionate about getting local children into gardening and has initially launched this initiative exclusively to primary schools in Oxfordshire, but hopes to roll it out across the country in the coming years.
Entry forms and top tips from Martin Fish to help schools get started have been sent out to all schools in the area. If you would like to request an entry pack please email faywilkinson@paskett.co.uk or tweet @WSGardenTools.
