Calling all Yorkshire Primary Schools to get their Grown-ups Growing

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), with the support of TV gardeners Alan Titchmarsh and Chris Collins, is today launching its Get Your Grown-ups Growing Day – a Yorkshire wide community gardening initiative, focused on getting parents to help their child’s primary school to build and develop a garden.

Schools can register now for Get Your Grown-ups Growing Day, and choose to hold their event on any day in October, by visiting the Yorkshire news page of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening website www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening. All schools who register will receive a free resource pack complete with seeds, how-to guide, posters and stickers.

As the UK’s leading gardening charity, the RHS has been running its Campaign for School Gardening since 2007, and in that time over two million children UK wide have benefited from learning to garden at school. In Yorkshire alone over 200 schools have joined the RHS Campaign, however to keep the momentum going and the gardens growing, the schools are in need of community support.

Click here to download information leaflet 

Inga Grimsey, RHS Director General, said, “Schools are an integral part of the community and for many children, their only access to a garden. When children are introduced to the idea of growing their own food, caring for wildlife and learning outdoors, often their whole attitude to life changes for the better. If we can encourage parents to get involved with their child’s school and help to maintain the garden, we know the whole community will begin to benefit.”

The RHS has chosen to launch its Get Your Grown-ups Growing Day in Yorkshire in October and will be rolling it out nationwide in spring 2010. Alan Titchmarsh has lent his support to the Day, not only because he is a Yorkshire man but also because he believes gardening can inspire children in many ways.

Alan Titchmarsh, said, “I got my first taste for gardening helping my grandfather on his allotment. A garden opens up an amazing experience for children as they discover new textures, sounds and tastes – nothing can beat it. And to be working along side your family helping to build or maintain a school garden can only be a positive thing.”

Blue Peter Gardener and long term supporter of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, Chris Collins, explained further, “Children are thrilled when they harvest the fruit and veg they have grown themselves.  When they taste the produce they have grown – they often say it is better than the produce bought at the supermarket. If we can get Yorkshire schools, their children and parents all growing together, that would be absolutely fantastic.”

Parents can encourage their child’s school to get involved in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and Get Your Grown-ups Growing Day, by asking their teachers to visit the Yorkshire news page of www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening .

The RHS Campaign for School Gardening and Get Your Grown-ups Growing Day is supported by Waitrose, Dorset Cereals and Marshalls plc.

About the Campaign for School Gardening
The RHS has actively involved over 9,000 schools across the UK in growing and gardening through Campaign for School Gardening. Children are taught about plants and gardening while teachers are provided with resources and lesson plans to help the school make the most of their garden, regardless of its size. Information and advice for schools is provided online and is backed up by support from the RHS education team. For more information visit www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening

About the RHS
The RHS believes that gardening improves the quality of life and that everyone should have access to great garden experiences. As a charity we help to bring gardening into people’s lives and support gardeners of all levels and abilities; whether they are expert horticulturists or children who are planting seeds for the very first time.

RHS membership is for anyone with an interest in gardening. Support the RHS and secure a healthy future for gardening. For more information call: 0845 130 4646, or visit www.rhs.org.uk
RHS Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262

About Waitrose
Waitrose is delighted to sponsor the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. It presents an exciting opportunity for Waitrose to share its knowledge with young people and help them to have a better understanding of where their food comes from as well as addressing health issues associated with poor diet. This Campaign is a wonderful hands-on initiative for children to gain a real 'field to fork' experience.

• Waitrose has 198 branches dedicated to offering quality fresh food, value and customer service.
• Waitrose has recently come top in a Customer Service survey conducted by Which?, and has been voted as Top Grocer by Verdict.

About Marshalls plc
Established in the late 1880s, Marshalls is the UK’s leading manufacturer of superior natural stone and innovative concrete hard landscaping products, supplying the construction, home improvement and landscape markets.  Marshalls provides the product ranges, design services, technical expertise, innovative ideas and inspiration to transform gardens, drives and public and commercial landscapes.

The Group operates its own quarries and manufacturing sites, including 12 regional service centres and an increasing number of Gardens & Driveways Display Centres throughout the UK.  As a major plc, Marshalls is committed to quality in everything it does, including environmental best practice and continual improvement in health and safety performance for the benefit of its almost 3000 strong workforce.

About Dorset Cereals
Dorset Cereals is supporting the Edible Playgrounds project which is a Dorset-born initiative that provides schools with gardening equipment, seeds, experience and information to help them establish a food-producing garden in their grounds.  The scheme was launched as a community project in May 2007 by Screen Bites: Dorset’s Food Film Festival. 

The Company has launched the Edible Playgrounds website to help schools across the UK build their own veggie garden, (www.edibleplaygrounds.co.uk), and has teamed up with gardeners, chefs and education experts to create a site that will become an invaluable resource and creative inspiration for children, teachers and parents, helping them create their very own Edible Playground.

Dorset Cereals sources only the finest quality ingredients from around the world, and is committed to making premium cereals.  Each recipe is carefully blended and balanced and packed full of crisp flakes, crunchy nuts and soft succulent fruit.  The blending process used by Dorset Cereals ensures that the ingredients remain whole, resulting in as little “dust” as possible in the pack.  Only natural ingredients are used in each of the cereals, which are Kosher and approved by the Vegetarian Society.