The first day dawned fresh and clear – Er well, actually, no it didn’t. For the beginning of June, it was unseasonably cold and wet. This was the culmination of our own personal marathon; we had been growing plants for months. What had seemed like a good idea, had now turned into an uphill battle just to keep everything watered. At this point, I was not sure that being taught how to prick out seedlings when I was five years old, was such a great idea!

Our son Tom, pinned up his list of drinks that he was selling from our mobile café – our caravan. He did a sterling job, raising over £30 by himself. I think that he may have a career in catering, if he wants one!

We opened up for two days, and each day gave us the opportunity to meet some more of our neighbours. It was a lovely positive thing to do, on what would have been our daughter Ruth’s 18th birthday. Altogether we raised over £400, quite a lot of this was for plants that are now growing in the Chief executive’s garden – well I hope that they are still growing!

Sylvia Salisbury