Teenage eco warriors from St Hale Barns school supply Wythenshawe food bank with fresh vegetables

The green fingered young gardeners from the Hale Barns school have produced a mouth watering crop of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions and sprouts out of what had become a stoney weed patch.

The idea was the brain-child of Corey Wilkinson, 13, from Urmston, who had been down to Wythenshawe market and seen their appeal for fresh produce.

Corey, who wants to be a scientist, said: “It's a really exciting project where they not only provide food for families who are struggling but also have a cook to show people how to make cost effective but nutritious meals. What they need is more fresh produce and I wanted to help,”

So after discussing the scheme with religious education teacher Marika Richardson and agreeing the proposal with principal James Keulemans, Corey's band of fellow young horticulturalists got down to the nitty gritty.

“We do have a vegetable garden of sorts but it was full of weeds, so we just came down with our rakes and hoes and got it back into shape and then we planted the seeds Mr Keulemans had got for us.”

From March to September has been a long wait for the eco warrior team especially during the summer holidays when they could not get down to tend their garden.

“During school we can come down to do the watering and the weeding, but during the summer we just had to ask the caretakers to do look after the garden and they did a great job. Now the first crop of carrots are better than we could have imagined and we can't wait to take them down to the the food bank,” said Corey.

Marika Richardson said: “We are really proud of the boys; it was their own idea and they literally did all the spade work and for 13-year-olds they have shown great application and a wonderful desire to help others.”

She added: “The carrot crop is just the start; there should be a flow of healthy, organic, fresh vegetables coming out of the garden from now until the end of harvest time.”