An Alsager man has launched a community gardening project which is literally sowing the seeds for the future.

Pete Mason set up Alsager Community Plant Shares, Hints & Tips after retiring and realised his gardening skills and those of others could be put to good use.

Now the forward-thinking community man has recruited an enthusiastic band of volunteers to help carry out gardening projects across the town.

And he's looking for more volunteers to join the group and help further projects helping others in the town.

"When you're retired you have the time and often the skills to help others," said Pete from Wesley Avenue. "We've got a resource, the time and are relatively healthy so we can help others.

"We can't change what's going on in the world but we can make it a better place to live for everyone."

Pete came up with the idea while walking his dog after retiring and set about setting up a Facebook page and reaching out to others to see if they wanted to help.

Now he has more than 1,000 followers on his Facebook page and has a list of volunteers to help out on projects and is looking for more to join his growing group.

Work so far has included Highfields Hoppers the pre-school playgroup at Alsager Highfields Community Primary School to general gardening and tidy-ups for disabled people.

"We never work longer than two hours at a time and start early so people have the rest of the day. We never work weekends as that is family time and ensure the work fits around what time volunteers can spare.

"It's a great way of meeting people and getting out in the community," said Pete, who grows all kinds of plants and vegetables in the garden of his Alsager home.

"We've all got skills we can offer and those we help are so grateful for the work we do."

Mowing and hedge trimming for an elderly friend was one job recently completed while another thing Pete has launched is a propagation chat group

"If 10 people chose 10 different plants to propagate cuttings and if successful that's 100 free plants to share with family and friends and our wider community," said Pete.

Interested in joining the Alsager Community Plant Shares, Hints & Tips group or becoming a volunteer with them? Details are on their Facebook page here .

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