MEMBERS of the Worcester Allotment and Garden Association certainly know their onions - and their turnips and cabbages and runner beans - and that’s one of the reasons why they are able to donate around £2,000 to charities each year.

Six volunteers, all retired and gardening and allotment enthusiasts, run an allotment shop on the Lansdowne Road allotment site in Worcester and they donate the profits, of selling everything from seed potatoes to fertilizer and runner bean canes, to charity.

This year the money has been divided between St Richard’s Hospice - £500, the Stroke Association - £500, the Worcester Snoezelen - £500, Maggs Day Centre - £250 and the Samaritans - £250.

The shop, which has moved locations a few times, has been running for about 60 years and the volunteers buy in the goods from wholesalers to keep the prices as low as possible when selling on to local people.

Association secretary Ron Fincher said: “We shop around for the best wholesale prices and we pass that on to the customers. We are open every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday morning throughout the year apart from Christmas and the New Year.

“People still come along and buy things at this time of the year. Our prices are quite a bit cheaper than garden centres.”

Anyone wanting to buy good from the shop has to join the association for the modest sum of £1.50 for annual membership. This year the association had 428 members.

Mr Fincher said the volunteers really enjoy running the shop and in the quieter months it is a chance to get together and “put the worlds to rights”! They also have a wealth of knowledge and gardening expertise between them which is generously shared with members.

“People come in for advice and we have not been stumped yet. We can usually find the answer to any problem between us.”