Sunflowers grown from seed by primary school children will soon be planted in Marlborough’s Priory Gardens, in a bid to save the ailing bee population.
Children from St Mary’s infant school and St Peter’s junior school have been growing sunflowers from seeds and compost donated by Tesco.
And this morning (Tuesday) mayor Guy Loosmore was on hand to judge the best sunflowers – so far – and to present green-fingered growers with certificates.
The mayor also took the opportunity to tour the school and tell the children about the work that the town council does, revealing along the way that one of the jobs of mayor – but one not practised for many years – is to measure loaves of bread to ensure citizens are getting a fair deal from bakers.
All of the sunflowers will be planted by head groundsman Richard Beale at Priory Gardens. It is hoped the brightly coloured blooms – which grow up to 15ft tall – will attract bees, whose UK population is dramatically declining.
And the mayor promised to judge the flowers again in September, saying: “We’ll award prizes for the tallest, and they won’t necessarily be those that have won prizes today.”
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