AN ANDOVER councillor has come up with a tasty idea to grow funds for a local charity.

Councillor Tony Hooke, of Hampshire County Council, will be selling seed potatoes today and tomorrow to raise cash for Neighbourcare.

The charity – which provides a range of services for vulnerable people in the town – has been hit with funding cuts and Cllr Hooke hopes to raise £4,500 through the smashing idea.

The idea is that people can buy a seed spud for £2.50 each from Cllr Hooke in Upper High Street and then the green-fingered gardener who grows the largest weight of produce from the one potato will win a chauffeured trip for two to Wisley Gardens with a cream tea.

The weigh-in will take place on the last Saturday of September.

Cllr Hooke, who wants to raise the money to replace a grant of £4,500 that the organisation was recently turned down for, said: “Neighbourcare is so important to everybody in the town, I don’t think we will be let down.”

The seed potatoes, which have been donated by a generous volunteer, will also be available to buy throughout April from Neighbourcare, in Union Street, and Broadway Garage, in Suffolk Road.