VIDEO: Giant pumpkin will be fundraiser for Horsham school

Nathan and Dominic Worsell decided to race each other to see who could grow the biggest pumpkin over the summer with the end result being two giant squashes both weighing in at around 170 pounds.

The pumpkins have now been donated by the family to two different primary schools in the area.

Dominic’s was given to Littlehaven Infant School who will be making pumpkin soup out of the giant vegetable.

Nathan’s meanwhile, has been given to Northolmes Junior School, who intend to use it to raise money.

They plan on running a ‘name the pumpkin’ competition and a ‘guess the girth’ competition.

Entrants are asked to pay 50p to enter each competition and the winner will either get vouchers or claim the pumpkin itself.

Sylvia White, head teacher at Northolmes Junior School, said: “The school thinks it is amazing. I have never seen pumpkin as big as they have grown.

“We are going to run two competitions to try and raise some money for the school. The money comes straight to the school as we want to replace our furniture as it is a bit old now. We are very happy they have donated the pumpkin to the school.”

Dominic and Nathan started growing the pumpkins back in April at Chesworth allotment with the help of their grandfather Bill Cable.

Nathan, aged eight, said: “I am happy with it. It had a really big stem. Me and my brother grew one and our granddad helped us to grow it. I wanted to beat my brother and it was really exciting.”

This was the team’s first attempt at growing giant vegetables and they were all impressed with what they had achieved.

The boys’ grandad Bill said: “I am very impressed. This is my first attempt at growing them. They wanted to race to see who could grow the biggest one. We were only able to weigh one of them due to the size so we can’t say who won. We will do it again and they will be even bigger next year.”

Bill also explained the secret behind growing giant vegetables.

“It starts with a seed but you do need to get the right seed. You have to get it sown in the spring time around April or May. You don’t want to start them off too early because of the frost. They do not start growing until July. Once you find the plant is growing well you add a drop of water. As it grows bigger and bigger the pumpkin will pollinate with the female pumpkin. You keep adding a bit of feed and this is what you end up with.”

Northolmes School 
competition

The school’s competitions are open to everyone and will be running until Thursday October 23 with the winner being announced on Friday October 24. To enter contact the school’s front desk directly on (01403) 261822.