George Hassall aka Green Fingered George is not only a first year student here at Ashton, he is also a pretty big deal in the gardening world!

From being very young, George loved all things Nature related, which ultimately progressed into an interest in gardening. This interest quickly turned into a love and passion and George's success and involvement in the gardening universe has been growing every since!

At the age of 8 in 2014, George won the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Young School Gardener of the year award, for all his achievements and involvement in his Primary School garden, his garden at home and with the community group - Operation Farm. George also appeared on The One Show, alongside Alan Titchmarsh to be interviewed about all his achievements and he also met The Queen in 2014!

He's attended the RHS Chelsea Flower Show several times. On one of these occasions, he assisted famous florist, Simon Lycett in making 3 posies, which were later presented to The Queen, The Duchess of Cornwall and The Countess of Wessex! 

 

         

 

George was announced as the first ever RHS Young Ambassador in 2015 at 9 years old. His role as an ambassador is to inspire other children to share his passion for gardening and nature. He has several responsibilities as an ambassador, including being involved with events and meetings for the society, meaning he has visited the RHS headquarters in Westminster many times.

George is still a RHS Young Ambassador to this day and loves being involved. He also participates with a handful of other organisations and societies, including the British Dragonfly Society as a Youth Ambassador and a RSPB (protection for birds society) as a volunteer! 

Despite all these amazing achievements and involvements in the gardening world, George said the highlight of his journey so far is being a regular on BBC's Blue Peter for the programme's gardening segment. As part of his involvement with Blue Peter, George has visited Kensington Palace with The Duchess of Cambridge for her 'Back to Nature' garden and to judge the Blue Peter sculpture. He also appears on the show to work on the Blue Peter Garden at Media City and assists the presenters in giving viewers gardening advice. Other shows George has presented on include News Round and CBeebies' Teeny Tiny Creatures.

George got into gardening through his Dad, who is self-taught. He helps his dad with the garden at home as well as helping his Grandma with her garden. He loves the many positive benefits that comes with gardening, including being closer to nature and having better mental wellbeing. 

 

         

 

George currently studies Geography, Drama and Biology for his A Levels and hopes to progress his career through his love of nature and go into the presenting side of the gardening world. Here at Ashton, we are so impressed with George's achievements. It's really inspiring to see a student of his age have so much involvement in an area he is passionate about.

His upcoming events include the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Press Day on the 23rd May to do some filming and to guest speak at the Environment Agency's 'Protecting Our Planet Event' on 7th June. The event will be attended by 150 young people aged 9-12 and will also be broadcasted to schools to inspire others to study STEM subjects to solve some of the issues the planet is facing. We can't wait to see what George achieves during the rest of his time at College and beyond and wish him every luck in his gardening journey!

George is very active on his social media and his website, where he posts updates and blog posts about what he is currently up to gardening wise! Keep up to date with him via @GreenFGeorge on twitter and https://greenfingeredgeorge.com/.