5,000 schools sign up in 4 days!
Last Friday, we launched a free tomato growing kits scheme with help from B&Q for 5,000 schools. We have had an overwhelming response - within four working days, the entire allocation had been snapped up. This is an incredible response and tells me two things: first, there is a huge latent demand out there from schools for getting kids involved in growing food. This scheme in combination with the existing British Potato Council's 'Grow your own Potatoes' scheme and the Garden Organic scheme, along with the new RHS 'Campaign for School Gardening' means that at least 750,000 children, or nearly three quarters of all primary schools, are now taking part in growing food this year, - an outstanding achievement! Second, it tells me that the local, regional and national networks that have developed and improved during the course of the Year have become an incredibly effective means of spreading the word about opportunities to our target audience. The B&Q scheme was promoted solely by email through these networks , so thanks to everyone out there who played a part in making the promotion of this scheme such a success. Needless to say, B&Q are delighted too and we are now going back to them to see if we can have more kits - there's so clearly a demand. Watch this space!