Flower festival a first for village

Albrighton has its first fundraising flower festival on July 4, with a series of competitions from midday to 5pm.

From 7.30pm, four horticultural experts will answer questions about growing the best crops, followed by a ploughman's supper.

Entry forms giving people the chance to enter their bouquets or home-grown fruit and vegetables are now being circulated throughout the village.

Pets will also be able to take part in the festival as a dog show is being held.

The event is being organised to raise cash for the refurbishment of the village's Red House.

The first phase of the project, which is due to run from July to September, will cost £85,000 and include transforming four rooms in the old section of the building into community rooms.

John Foster, a member of the Red House committee and chairman of the Albrighton Allotment Association, said: "It is the first flower festival we have held and, depending on its success, we are hoping it could become an annual event."