A group of community gardeners are growing for gold thanks to their launch of a new project.

Golcar Food Growers Co-operative have harvested their first crop of garlic which they hope to sell locally to help with costs to keep their group going and get more people involved.

The green-fingered gang are also looking for more volunteers to join the co-operative and tend their seven acre patch of land, which is on Park Wood Road opposite the Walkers Arms.

Member Richard Murgatroyd said: “The simple plan is to sell our garlic to local shops and hopefully at Huddersfield Food and Drink festival to cover costs and keep the co-operative growing.

“We also hope it will draw more attention to what we are doing and help us to forge more links with other groups from the area to encourage as many people as possible into growing with us.

“We’re also planning to build upon the work done around healthy eating by Kirklees Council by working with local schools to get youngster digging and show them the benefits of eating healthily and using local produce.”

It is the latest initiative for the co-operative, which has completely transformed a large portion of the field from an overgrown wasteland into verdant space over the last 18 months.

They have planted around 1,000 trees and together grow an abundance of vegetables and fruit around the year which they share out between members.

Richard said: “Everyone has worked hard to prepare the ground, but now that the hard work is done we are able to plant and improve the soil.

“We would love more people to come and join us so that we can dig over the rest of the space we have.

“We have a lot of experienced gardeners who can give guidance, and, most importantly, people get good food to eat when it comes to harvest time.

“We hope the co-op will encourage people to live more sustainably, which we need to do due to climate change, so anything that reduces our food miles is great.”

The group meets for several work mornings every month.

Anyone that would like to get involved or would like more information, should email rmurgatroyd@aol.com.