Flower show entry provides grist to the industrial mill

Final preparations are being made to this year’s Leeds City Council entry for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

And parks and countryside service trainees Dominic Grimes and Andrew Bray have been hard at work for the last few weeks at the council’s Red Hall Nursery nurturing some of the plants.

This year’s entry from the council’s parks and countryside service has again been supported by Leeds-based Hesco Bastion Ltd, which manufacturers products used in civil engineering, and showcases the power of nature and water.

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The centrepiece will be a traditional mill of the sort seen in Yorkshire during the industrial revolution, with a giant working water wheel. The three-metre wheel will pump water round the garden.

The designers say the wheel celebrates the pivotal role of water power in the industrial past and potentially in the future as a clean and renewable energy resource.

Dominic, from Burley-in-Wharfedale and Andrew, from Meanwood, both 17, are learning their trades as part of the council’s two-year green apprenticeship programme.

Councillor Keith Wakefield, the leader of the council, who visited Red Hall yesterday, said: “It is really great to see Dominic and Andrew getting the chance to be part of something like putting a Chelsea garden together which will represent our city on an international level.”

This year’s Chelsea Show runs from May 24-28.

Last year’s entry – featuring a pair of lock gates – took a prestigious gold medal and set a high standard to follow.