A BRADFORD allotments association held its first open day, to encourage more young people to get green-fingered.

Officials at Thornbury Gardens and Allotments Association are hoping to build on the seeds planted by seven-year-old member Amelia Hirst, who hit the headlines this summer as the youngest allotment holder in the district.

A stream of youngsters attended the event on Saturday, at the Derby Road allotments in Thornbury, and met the association's longest-serving member, Terry Haigh.

Plot-holder Anne Cunningham said the day had been a success, with scores of people turning up.

She said: "The allotments are pretty much full at the moment, but people come and go and we are always keen to find new, young people, and hopefully we have done that.

"Like many other allotments, we have to have padlocked gates round. We felt a lot of the community may feel excluded, so we decided to open the gates and let everybody in.

"We are trying to encourage the youngsters in the area to get involved and come and grow things. They learn about it in school but a lot don't have their own garden and we want to help them put what they have learned into practice."