GREENFINGERED members of Kidderminster Horticultural Society are hoping to raise a whopping £3,000 for Operation Covert this weekend when they open their gardens to the public.

Visitors to the floral extravaganza on Sunday will include 18 gardeners from Kidderminster's twin town of Husum, who are visiting Wyre Forest to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the twinning link.

It is hoped their visit could be the first of many exchanges between garden enthusiasts of the two towns.

Visitors to the open day will pay £3 to look around 10 gardens and three allotments which will be open between 11am and 6.30pm. All of the admission money will go towards rebuilding the Rhydd Covert Scout centre which was burnt down by vandals.

A raffle is also being held that it is hoped will raise up to £1,500.

Hilary Boyle, whose garden tended by her husband, Geoff, is on display, said she was delighted the proceeds were being donated to Operation Covert.

"The society chooses a different charity each year, which is usually a topical one, and, obviously, Rhydd Covert is on most people's mind," she said.

"For us, it has personal connotations because my sons were in the Scouts and I used to be a Cub leader."

She added she had organised the visit by the Husum gardeners after spending a weekend in Germany last year.

"We've had German boys here lots because our lads used to go on exchange visits to Husum and we've always said we'd like to go but we didn't belong to any groups other than Kidderminster Horticultural Society," she explained.

"We went last year and managed to meet with gardeners there."

She said: "The only problem is that gardening is different in Germany and they don't actually have a Husum Horticultural Society, so the people that are coming over are just interested in gardening.

"We're hoping that, in future, there will be Kidderminster people going over to see the different types of gardening."

Tickets for the open day, which include a map and details of where all the gardens are located, can be obtained by calling Louise Aston on 01562 69115 or Sue Cooke on 01562 631001.

They can also be purchased from John Beard ironmongers in Bridge Street, Kidderminster.

More information is also available online at www.horticultural.org.uk