GREEN-FINGERED enthusiasts from Dorset got the chance to get up close and personal with the nation’s most famous gardener.

Alan Titchmarsh, who hosted the popular gardening show Ground Force on the BBC and his own chat show on ITV, appeared at an event for the Army Benevolent Fund Soldiers’ Charity.

Held at the Crown hotel in Blandford and sponsored by Orchard Park and The Gardens Group, Mr Titchmarsh regaled the audience with stories of his life and career, and at one point even burst into song to keep his crowd entertained.

The evening was held to raise funds for the ABF.
The ABF was first set up in 1944, and offers support and advice, both monetary and emotional, to serving soldiers, veterans and their families.

The charity is self-funded and over the past 10 years, more than £500,000 has been distributed across Dorset to support more than 460 men, women and children who bear the scars of service in the forces.

But the event at The Crown was a light-hearted event, with Mr Tichmarsh performing garden-themed hymn parodies and potted poetry.

Richard Cumming, a joint director at Orchard Park, said he thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Mr Cumming said the event was a great success and thanked all who too part.

He said: “The whole evening was brilliant.

“Alan Titchmarsh is such a natural speaker that he had the whole crowd enthralled.

“It wasn’t so much gardening either, there was so much more, he told stories about his life and his observations and it was just absolutely brilliant.

“At one point he told us he’d been a choir signer as a boy and he just burst into song.”

Mr Cumming said he felt it was important to support charities such as the ABF that help ex-servicemen and women.

He added: “We have got a lot of ex-servicemen and women as well as current soldiers in our area, and it’s important we serve them in any way we can.

“Every opportunity we get we do try to support any charity that supports soldiers.

More than £3,000 was raised for the charity during the night.

For more information on the ABF contact Richard East, chairman of Dorset ABF The Soldiers’ Charity by email, on east-rs@hotmail.co.uk or visit www.soldierscharity.org.