Each Spring, the Royal Horticultural Society hosts the London International Orchid Show, featuring the best orchid nurseries from across Europe, including the Writhlington School Orchid Project.
Fourteen-year-old pupil, Georgia Hughes, explained: "Writhlington has been displaying at the show since 2003 and this year was our most successful yet. Our display won a coveted RHS Gold Medal and we carried off both of the top plant awards at the show."
Chair of the RHS Orchid Judging Committee, Johan Hermans, described the Writhlington display as 'outstanding', especially in terms of the beautifully grown specimen plants, the quality of finish and the excellent information about the school's conservation work in Rwanda.
The top plant awards at the show are 'Best specimen plant' which Writhlington won for the third year in succession, this time with an enormous plant of Coelogyne cristata, and 'Best Orchid' won by Writhlington's Dendrobium thyrsiflorum.
Tom Forsythe, part of the set-up team, noted: "We are fortunate that after twenty-two years of the orchid project, we have grown some real monster plants. The only problem is that these plants are really difficult to transport to London and our Coelogyne now needs four people to carry it!"
The next chance to see Writhlington School's orchids and orchid growers will be on July 4th, when the school hosts the British premier of a new David Attenborough film about orchids, featuring the school. More details from the school on: 01761 433581.