More than a million tulips are being picked by an army of volunteers for this year’s Spalding Flower Parade.
The flowers, which are a by-product of producing tulip bulbs, are classed as waste. It will take the volunteers two days to collect the blooms, which have been donated by a Norfolk farmer.
The annual parade began in 1959 to celebrate the area’s flower growing success, but only returned last year after a 10-year break.
The festival was reincarnated by a group of volunteers, including Stephen Timewell. “The Spalding flower parade is just iconic – so when we lost it it was heartbreaking,” he said.
“It’s part of our heritage – but more than that it brings the community together.”
In preparation for the event which takes place on 11 and 12 May, Mr Timewell said about 30-40 volunteers were picking the heads off up to one-and-half-million tulips. Mr Timewell said the tulips would be put in cold storage and later used to decorate about 60 floats.
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