Competition at plant fair in memory of Shropshire teenager
A competition at a village plant fair will be held in memory of a teenager with muscular dystrophy who died.
Sunflower seeds sown by Tom Hancock's mother Heather will be on sale in the grand plant sale at Welshampton Plant Fair, which will take place at the Parish Hall on Monday.
Visitors will be invited to take the seedlings home and then report back the height of their plants in September to the event organisers.
The tallest flower will then receive a specially commissioned sunflower garden sculpture made and donated by Clive Knowles, managing director of Black Country Metalworks in Oswestry.
Heather, whose son was 19 when he died, said: "Tom loved growing plants, especially giant sunflowers. We were going to grow them last summer before he passed away.
"We hope people enjoy growing their sunflowers as much as Tom did."
Rare specimen plants from garden owners, specialist nursery breeding programmes and private National Collection holders across north Shropshire and the Cheshire border will also be on sale at the event in an auction for charity.
Last year's event attracted a record attendance and raised £6,500, taking the amount raised over the last eight years to more than £30,000. Proceeds from the auction will be divided between Shropshire Macmillan Cancer Support and St Michael and All Angels Church in Welshampton.
The fair will open at noon and the auction will start at 1.15pm. Entry and car parking will be free.
Organiser Gillian Eleftheriou said: "The fair tends to attract people from quite a wide area as well as visitors and plantaholics because it offers such an unusual selection of plants. In the grand plant sale alone, we usually have well in excess of 3,000 plants on offer, all grown by a dedicated team of people.
"The fair is exceptional in bringing together expert professionals and dedicated amateur growers to offer a huge choice of ornamental perennials, annuals and vegetables, along with sound advice. The very select lots of specimen plants for the special plants auction are all kindly donated by top plantspeople at the forefront of horticulture across the area and include National Collection holders, top gardens and specialist nurseries.
"Their generosity gives us this unique opportunity to offer an outstanding selection of very special plants. We have been very privileged to receive new plants to launch at each of our auctions and this year is likely to be no exception."
