28.02.06
Blooming Marvellous! Cornwall's daffodils help raise money for charity

Two Cornish daffodil growers responded to an emailed plea sent on Saturday 25th February by Karryn Brooks, organiser of a Marie Curie Cancer Care event in Cheshire.

By the next day, Ron Scamp of Quality Daffodils had teamed up with New Generation Daffodils to pick, cut and pack the 300 flowers for free. Karryn simply had to cover the cost of sending the daffodils up to Cheshire in time for the event planned for Thursday 2nd March.

Ron says: "Karryn's doing a great thing for this charity; the least we could do was respond in a positive way and bring a little bit of cheer from Cornwall."

Following the death of a close friend 18 months ago, Karryn, who works for Barclays Bank in a call centre, decided to raise money for the cancer charity by planning an event that would be held at her workplace. Her local pub has devised a quiz and is providing the drinks, local businesses have donated prizes for the raffle and the bank has given her funding for the meal that is included in the price of the ticket.

Karryn says: "I woke up on Friday morning and thought it would be brilliant if we had real flowers to make the venue look less 'worky', especially as Marie Curie's logo is the daffodil. However, I didn't really think it would be possible to find any, given the time of year and the cold weather we've been having."

Undeterred, she used a search engine to track down a supplier who would be willing to provide the flowers at a reduced cost. Unable to find a local grower, she stumbled across the website for Cornish Horticultural Enterprises, a delegated grant scheme responsible for funding horticultural projects in Cornwall. Project administrator Gillian Clark, received the email and sent it on to a number of daffodil growers in Cornwall, asking them to respond direct to Karryn.

Marie Curie Cancer Care, which is soon to celebrate its 60th anniversary, is a charity that provides care to over 25,000 cancer patients and their families in the UK. All money raised from the event, which Karryn hopes will amount to over £4000, will go to the charity.

For further information please contact Gillian Clark on 01626 890405.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in Cornish Horticultural Enterprises through the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF).

Anyone considering a new horticulture, food and land based industries project is advised to speak with Maria Ford, at Government Office South West - 01752 635015 - before commencing development as there are now only limited funds available due to the successful uptake of funding by the agricultural sector in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Editor's notes:

Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439

cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk

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