Floral Guernsey is pleased to announce a three-year sponsorship package with Bedell Group called 'Bedell Group Little Green Fingers Schools Project'. This new initiative is aimed at encouraging young children to experience the fun of gardening and enjoying the horticultural heritage of the Islands.

The scheme, which provides long-term community and environmental benefits, will initially be offered to the 24 Primary, Infant and Junior Special Needs Schools in the Bailliwick of Guernsey and will subsequently be extended to pre-schools. It will provide the funding for children to experience hands-on gardening by growing their own vegetables, or simply starting with flower pots around the playground.

But it's about more than just financial funding. Experts from Floral Guernsey will visit schools to assist with tree-planting schemes and plant propagation.

Tony Spruce, Chairman of Floral Guernsey, said

"The many benefits of the Bedell Group Little Green Fingers Schools Project are to raise awareness of where food comes from and environmental issues, to feed into the healthy eating element of the school curriculum, to enthuse youngsters who would not otherwise enjoy the opportunity to boost team spirits and community awareness and encourage interaction between schools to exchange ideas as well as a little healthy competition."

The project will work in tandem with the Royal Horticultural Society's 'Campaign for School Gardening.' As the UK's leading gardening charity, their aim is to get 80% of UK Primary schools involved in gardening by 2012. This internet based scheme offers encouragement with free seeds, competitions and interactive games.

Several of the Islands' schools have previously had involvement with the Floral Guernsey Community Competitions leading to Britain in Bloom successes, including St. Andrew's gold medal award last year where the judges were particularly impressed with the contribution from St. Andrew's Primary School. In the last Autumn Festival week over 100 children were involved in activities such as shoe-box gardens and gourd competitions being the culmination of events throughout the year and with vegetables that they had grown themselves. The Bedell Group Little Green Fingers Schools' Project aims to build on this success and encourage other schools to join in the fun of gardening.

Ann Wragg, School Co-ordinator for Floral Guernsey comments "Having Bedell Group's involvement in the scheme is just the springboard we need to take this initiative forward. Once children experience the satisfaction of gardening, it can become a lifelong."

Mark Helyar, Partner at Bedell Group in Guernsey, adds "At Bedell Group we are very committed to providing support to our local community. This is quite literally a grass roots initiative which will give children an understanding and respect for the environment, not to mention a lot of fun."

Schools wishing to find out more about this project should contact Ann Wragg at a.hw@clara.co.uk