School children compete nationally to gather the most declarations of support for local fruit.

Children of All Hallows are calling on the people of Macclesfield to help them in their quest to gather as many declarations of support for local fruit as possible.

As part of the fruit-full schools project, All Hallows is one of 200 schools across England, which will be aiming to collectively gather over 100,000 pledges in support of local produce from their surrounding communities.

The school, having already established its own orchard as part of the project, will be in competition to gather the most reasons why their community loves and supports local produce.  If they win, they will be awarded funds to commission a local artist to create a permanent fruit related art installation in their school grounds.

In addition, anyone that gives their reason why they love local fruit will be in with a chance of winning a stunning new fruit press from Vigo Presses (www.vigopresses.co.uk) worth £220.00!

The competition comes as a part of the ‘Fruit-full Schools ‘project, a scheme designed to help increase the numbers of the UK’s orchards, whilst reviving some of the long-forgotten local fruit varieties.  The school has now participated in the project – developed by the national school grounds charity- Learning through Landscapes, for four years.

The Fruit-full project is helping children across the UK to establish and maintain traditional fruit orchards within their school grounds in partnership with their local communities. All Hallows now hopes to put Macclesfield’s love for local fruit on the map, by asking them to show their support by submitting a short reason why they love local food. Martin Blades (Assistant Principal) explains, “There are so many reasons to support locally grown fruit- it increases business for local farmers and trades, helps preserve the heritage of local varieties, conserves energy in food miles and therefore fresher, more nutritious fruit can be consumed. We are hoping our community will join the school by pledging support by adding a short reason why they love locally grown produce”.

Pledging support costs nothing and takes less than a minute online on the Fruit-Full Schools website www.fruitfullschools.org alternatively you can visit All Hallows to pledge at the school.