A VILLAGE gardening society hopes to attract a new generation of keen young gardeners.

Since 1941, the green-fingered folk of Silverdale have been keen supporters of the village's horticultural and gardening society, and its September show has been an important event on the village calendar.

However, this year's show had to be cancelled as there were too few committee members able to run it.

Undeterred, the society is putting out new shoots and hopes to broaden its appeal as it looks to the future.

Sarah Fishwick told the Gazette she was delighted to be asked to be chairman, adding: "I’m looking forward to working with our new committee to broaden the gardening society’s appeal to include younger members and school children.

"Many people in the village looked forward to the show, which has always been well supported, so it came as a shock to realise it wouldn’t be happening. This has encouraged new volunteers to join the committee to make sure the good work done by this long-standing village organisation continues”.

The society began as part of the Dig for Victory campaign during World War Two, when people were encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Among the changes to be made official at an extraordinary meeting on November 18 will be dropping the word 'horticultural' from the society's name to 'reflect a more modern approach' to gardening.

The meeting is to take place at the Silverdale Hotel, at 7pm, and everybody is welcome.