A local family are distributing sunflowers to students across Falmouth to 'bring a little happiness' and raise money for MacMillan Truro.

48 sunflower plants will be available to collect from Sean Stratton and his children at the Woodlane Campus on Thursday 25th of March outside the giant Falmouth sign.

There will be no obligation to make a contribution to the MacMillan fund, but donation boxes will be available on the day with a suggested donation of £2 per plant.

"There are lots of student houses across Falmouth with not much going on in the garden and there are lots of us who after the last twelve months could do with a pick me up, I sure could," said Sean Stratton.

"All I need now is the help of the student community to brighten

up Falmouth this summer."

The family started to grow sunflowers as an activity in the first lockdown, finding joy in the yellow petals that radiate warmth and happiness to any onlooker.

As the sunflowers grew, so did local interest so the family began distributing sunflowers to the friends of their children and the neighbours on their street.

The Stratton family now want to share the same happiness with the student community after receiving such positive reactions from their neighbours.

"Some of the adults [on my street] asked if they could have some [sunflowers] for some fun and have the tallest sunflower race...I ended up delivery 23 sunflowers, about 30cm tall, to my street. Then when I was delivering a plant to one neighbour she said the students at the student house on our street might like some as well and that's how this grew… excuse the pun."

A range of different sunflowers seeds have been sown to make up the 48 plants available for collection.

The three-week-old sunflower plants include American Giants, Jammie Dodgers, Velvet Queens and King Kong sunflowers, each of which have signature tones of red and yellow. The seeds have been mixed up and randomly sewn to surprise recipients once grown.

Any donations made when the sunflowers are distributed will be given to MacMillan Truro, a local charity specialising in cancer treatments.

"I know it's been hard on charities with lockdown stopping much of their fundraising and catching cancer early is of particular concern but also how it's affected the counselling services they offer for patients mental health."

Progress of the seeds and information on how to care for your sunflower is available on the Facebook page 'Sunflowers Smiles'.

Members of the Facebook group are invited to post pictures of their plants and enter a competition to grow the tallest sunflower.

The family hope that the sunflowers will continue to bring a smile to everyone walking around Falmouth. The flowers should last until September with ongoing care and the warmth of the summer heat.

"Whenever I see a sunflower, I smile and I'm sure I'm not the only one! It's simple really, the more sunflowers, the more smiles! It would be great to see them dotted all over Falmouth."

For more information visit the 'Sunflowers Smiles' Facebook page or visit the Falmouth sign outside the Woodlane Campus on Thursday 25th of March to collect a sunflower of your own.

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