THE Watercress Company, which has a farm at Waddock Cross, near Dorchester, has extended its innovative Grab-a-Bag campaign to Poole, giving residents the opportunity to walk away with free bags of watercress.

The Watercress Company has been operating a mobile Grab-a-Bag Station in a series of gyms and members clubs in Dorchester and Weymouth. Now it is moving the focus of the campaign to Poole. The ‘fitness fridge’ has arrived at the David Lloyd in Cabot Lane, Poole and will then go to DW Fitness, Branksome. Talks are also underway with PureGym and Fitness First in Poole.

Since the campaign began in mid-July around 3,400 free bags of watercress have been taken from the Grab-a-Bag Station and organisers say sales of watercress in nearby stores have seen a comparable rise due to new interest in the peppery salad leaf. Apparently UK watercress growers are keen to trigger a new demand from a younger market and having tried everything else, are now giving watercress away in environments popular with a younger audience.

The Watercress Company identified sports clubs and gyms as the ideal venues to reach this target market with a clear message about achieving optimum sports performance that they hope will strike a chord with them. The Grab-a-Bag station (or fridge) is covered with the health benefits of eating watercress and urges visitors to the venue to take a free bag. All that’s asked in return is that the participants post their recipes using watercress on the #watercresschallenge page on watercress.co.uk

Tom Amery, managing director of The Watercress Company says: “We are investing over £100,000 this year in promoting watercress and much of it is being invested in reaching the younger generation as part of a social media campaign #watercresschallenge. The Grab-a-Bag Station activity is one element of this. We are prepared to give thousands of bags away for free it if is the only way to reach younger consumers since experience shows that once tried, loyalty is quick to follow.”

Watercress contains over 50 vital vitamins and minerals; gram for gram Watercress contains more calcium than milk, more folate than banana, more Vitamin C than oranges and more Vitamin E than broccoli. It is also high in fibre and rich in iron. What’s more, scientific research has shown that watercress aids recovery after exercise. and prevents the DNA damage caused by intense physical activity.

n If you’d like your club, gym or college to benefit from free watercress for a week, email info@thewatercresscompany.com or call 01929 401 400.