Today Jim joined Over Primary School’s gardening club to present them with free gardening equipment and to help them plant a tree in their garden as part of Morrison’s ‘Let’s Grow’ programme.

Over Primary school is one of more than 22,500 schools across the country who have collected the Let’s Grow vouchers from Morrison’s which can be redeemed for pieces of gardening equipment ranging from watering cans to wormeries and wellies to weather stations.

Vinney Ashurst, Schools Partnership Manager at Morrison’s said: “The enthusiasm for the ‘Morrisons Let’s Grow’ campaign has been tremendous and we’ve had some wonderful feedback from parents, teachers and children. While it’s fantastic that the kids are looking forward to digging into the mud, there’s an important message here about getting young people interested in healthy fresh food and how it’s produced.”

Jim said, ‘In my role as Minister of State for Agriculture and Food I am passionate about encouraging schools to teach children about where their food comes from. It was wonderful to visit Over Primary school’s gardening club and hear about they have been growing their own carrots, potatoes and even strawberries!’