TV's Charlie helps Dig For Victory

THE biggest grow-your-own campaign ever was called Dig For Victory, but whereas most people in wartime Britain knew at least something about gardening, it's a sad fact that many youngsters today haven't a clue.

A Westcountry-based survey just published reveals that almost two thirds of children struggle to identify the origins of everyday food products they consume.

The survey, commissioned by Cornish Mutual, has inspired a campaign called Dig Down South West, which was launched yesterday at Highfield Farm, Topsham, by TV gardening expert Charlie Dimmock.

The Ground Force star told the WMN: "If you go to the supermarket with your mum and see food being bought in a packet, how do you know where it comes from?

"There is even an advertisement which is for milk – and the cow is a male!" she sighed.

"But it's not all bad news – we are starting to realise that children DO like being outside, and they end up changing their parents. The parents feel guilty and start doing things like visiting farms.

"As a kid we always had vegetables on the plate and I wasn't sure I liked them," said Ms Dimmock. "But camping down at the bottom of the garden and stealing them and eating them raw? Fantastic! I'd eat them then.

"I've worked with quite a few schools and, once they start growing veg, children will start to eat them. OK, not all veg… But you do get to like them when you know them.

"Dig Down South West is a great idea," she added, explaining that the campaign was aimed at primary schools across the region which have an interest in vegetable gardening.

The hope is to create 50 new vegetable gardens in schools across the Westcountry in a bid to encourage young children to take an active interest in growing their own produce.

Yesterday's launch came after the new survey had established that some youngsters thought eggs came from sheep, bacon from horses, goats or peacocks and that cheese originated from butterflies, rats or mice.

Cornish Mutual's managing director, Alan Goddard, said his organisation had traded in the region for more than 100 years and its core membership was farmers.

"We are concerned that society as a whole is disconnected with where its food comes from," he said. "Where better to start that reconnection than with young people?

"They are increasingly becoming interested in where their food comes from and eating healthier things.

"We thought we could be of huge benefit to our members by supporting an initiative such as this."

Topsham farmer Ian Shears already hosts regular school visits at his 118-acre mixed farm, and he told the WMN: "Traditionally this was the market gardening area of Devon – my grandparents could remember hundreds of people coming to work in the fields around here. We're trying to recreate some of that now – and we're working with local schools to try to encourage them to grow their own fruit and veg.

"Fifty years ago, everybody had a connection with a farm," Mr Shears went on. "They'd have a grandparent or an uncle who farmed – but today that's lost. So it's great to get children on the farm and explain how the food is produced."

Dylan, Rio and Jessica were three of the dozen or more children attending yesterday's launch from Topsham School – aged between six and eight, they seemed only too keen to get their hands dirty.

"We've grown squashes and marrows before," volunteered an enthusiastic Dylan.

"I think it's a good idea we should learn about vegetables," added Rio.

Jessica wasn't entirely sure. "I don't really like eating vegetables," she said. "But getting my hands mucky doesn't bother me."

As for garden-loving Ms Dimmock? She is, of course, a full-on veggie enthusiast – but she does have one little failing in the great pantheon of garden-borne goodness.

"I'm not mad on broad beans," she confided.

For more information about Dig Down South West, visit www.digdownsw.co.uk