Offenders' green fingers on show

The Tatton flower show is one of the most prestigious in Britain

A group of offenders are taking on the might of Britain's horticultural elite at a prestigious flower show.

The North Wales Probation Area team have been accepted as competitors at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show - the first time offenders will take part.

They will be taking part in the national flowerbed competition at the Cheshire show, which opens Wednesday.

The offenders have been doing community service as part of their punishment, including doing work in parks in Conwy.

They have also helped out at Conwy council's Tanllan Nurseries in Llanelian, where the idea to enter a team at Tatton was first thought of.

Community service supervisor Brian Dunt said the team was "thrilled" about taking part in Tatton.

This is a big feather in our cap and we're looking forward to it immensely Brian Dunt, community service supervisor

"The design is based on an anti-graffiti message - a brick wall with graffiti on it but made out of summer bedding plants," he said.

"I have got a couple of lads who have finished their order who want to come back and help.

"It's going to be very intense but it's an ideal opportunity for the Probation Service to prove what we can do.

"This is a big feather in our cap and we're looking forward to it immensely."

The scheme came about due to a partnership with the council, which has an impressive track record at the flower show.

They won a silver award in 2006 and a silver gilt prize last year but this time they're also overseeing the entry by the probation team.

3,500 bedding plants

Peter Barton-Price, the council's assistant manager for parks and green, who oversaw both entries, said: "We saw the partnership with the probation service as a great opportunity to look at some of the tasks we were unable to look at due to manpower and also to give an opportunity to people on probation.

"The national flowerbed competition at Tatton Park is probably the second biggest competition held by the Royal Horticultural Society and the other one is at Chelsea Flower Show.

"So, it doesn't get much bigger than this. This is one of the pinnacles of the horticultural calendar - this is a big deal for us."

The team had three days to create their flowerbed - complete with a minimum of 3,500 summer bedding plants - at the flower show.

Judging took place on Tuesday and the show, near Knutsford, runs until Sunday.