Annual Chichele Garden Fair on Saturday May 25th

The Garden Fair '' is a nice home - grown event and we always get a good crowd'', said organiser Carol Fitzgerald, a member of the Tourism Committee and chair of the Chichele College Management Committee, a Tourism sub-committee.

The annual Chichele Garden Fair is being held at the Town's medieval Chichele College and the neighbouring Duchy Barn garden on Saturday 25th May from 9am to 3pm- and the excitement is mounting as stallholders prepare their garden-related wares, the children's art competition entries are collected for judging and the 13 schools and organisers which have entered the inaugural wheelbarrow competition, plant their entries.

The wheelbarrow competition is expected to be a big drawcard with Carol saying it had attracted '' a nice spread of schools and organisations''.

The theme for the wheelbarrow competition is '' Walking on the Wildside'' with entrants expected to feature flowers and pollinating insects.

The town's Ferrers school will be submitting three wheelbarrow entries, and one of them, designed by the Sixth Form Leadership Team, gave us a sneak preview of their entry this week.

They had already done their research and had designed their wheelbarrow to reflect the unique identity of their sixth form.

Called, ''Anita's Bee Cafe '' their entry features their sixth form colours and pays tribute to their sixth form coffee shop.

It aims to promote the love of bees which produce up to a third of our food supply, increase fruit and vegetable production and help to prevent soil erosion.

Esther Gray, the school's vice principal who oversees the sixth form with its head Helen Prince, said that the wheelbarrow competition was a lovely project as it enabled the school to take part in a local community event.

The sixth-formers are keen on environmental issues and climate change and she was hoping that they would eventually qualify for the Carbon Literacy Certificate.

''They would then become role models for the school'', she said.

The prize for the winning wheelbarrow entry will be a bespoke bug hotel, made by skilled craftsman Peter Bond.

Another top attraction will be visiting weaver, Bob Lever, who will demonstrate how to create different creatures from willow, and also attracting interest in the Chichele College will be the children's art display.

The town's new Mayor Councillor Vijay Paul, attending his first Higham Ferrers function, will present prizes to the winning children at 2-30pm. The competition which attracted some 350 entries from one school- the Higham Ferrers Junior School- is being sponsored by the local Wilson Browne solicitors.

As the Chichele Garden Fair coincides with the town's monthly Farmers Market, visitors will also be able to hear the bells of the nearby St Mary's Church.

Entry and horticultural advice will be free at the 9am - 3pm event, and refreshments will be also available from the popular NAAFI van.