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The annual Calverley Horticultural Society plant sale has sold out and raised £500 for the NHS charity Leeds Cares before it was due to be held, writes Anne Akers
The sale, which usually takes place at the Methodist Hall in May, is always popular, but had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus lockdown.
As the plants were already growing in the greenhouse, the society decided to hold a virtual sale instead and raise money for the NHS.
Organiser Bev Smith said they wanted to make sure that plant sale regulars in the village, who may not use computers didn’t lose out, so delivered order forms to them first before the sale went online.
“Our sale is always very popular, there’s usually a queue around the block and we sell out within half an hour, so we knew there would be demand” she said.
“We had a greenhouse full of plants and members had offered to donate spare flowers and veg they were growing, so we didn’t want them to go to waste. Plus there is nowhere else accessible for people to buy plants at the moment,” she said.
The virtual sale proved as popular as the regular event and sold out within hours. The plants are being delivered to people’s homes, observing social distancing.
“It has had the added benefit of providing a bit of human contact particularly for some of our elderly members who are self isolating,” said Bev.
She confirmed the annual show, held at the end of August, will go ahead, either at the Methodist Hall or virtually.