A POPULAR Spring Flower Show is turning back the clock to celebrate a century of staging one of the country’s most popular gardening events.

Organisers of the Harrogate Flower Show are appealing for visitors, both past and present, to send in their favourite flower show snaps for a special display to mark 100 years since the North of England Horticultural Society (NEHS) began its support for the flower show.

Harrogate Spring Flower Show - which takes place from April 23-26 this year - now attracts up to 60,000 visitors a year, and to celebrate the landmark anniversary, the theme for this year’s spring flower show will be the Roaring Twenties, taking visitors and exhibitors back to the days of jazz, Charlie Chaplin and the Charleston.

A major floral display will explore what was hot in the horticulture of the day, including an amazing flower fountain and a Jazz-era cocktail bar.

After being formed to support horticulture in the colder northern counties of England, the NEHS first supported a small show in 1920. Within a year it was holding an event of its own in the old Winter Gardens in Harrogate and soon concentrated all its efforts on one major show a year in the town.

“The last century has seen some momentous changes and events taking place, much of which have been reflected in the history of the flower show and the generations of people who have taken part down the years,” said NEHS Show Director Nick Smith.

“As well as celebrating the amazing achievement of a century of growing and showing, we would like to pay tribute to the visitors and exhibitors who have made the event what it is today.”

Details of how to send in photos of past Spring Flower Shows are available at www.flowershow.org.uk/take-part or at info@flowershow.org.uk.