Bressingham boy Bryn’s red-hot chilli sales help foodbank with donation

A seven-year-old Bressingham boy has used his love of gardening to help a foodbank by selling some hot stuff - chillies.

Bryn Eaton has been growing the likes of tomatoes, lettuces, potatoes, strawberries and sunflowers since he was three, but this time he decided to also plant Scotch Bonnets.

But when his one plant grew 81 chillies, which was more than his family could eat, Bryn had a plan that would help others.

Laura, Bryn’s mum, said: “He said that he wanted to sell them. I asked him what he would spend the money on and he said a cheeseburger from McDonald’s, seeds to grow more chillies and to buy food for other people at the foodbank.

“We have donate items for the foodbank on other occasions, we had been talking about Harvest festival and donating tins of food for that, which is probably where Bryn got the idea.

“He is such a very caring boy, we decided to set up a monthly donation for Water Aid a couple of years ago as he saw the advert and said to us that everyone should have water and food.”

Bryn was asking for £1 for three chillies and after Laura put that on the Diss Community Noticeboard Facebook page word spread and in a week he had sold out.

Laura said: “Many generous community members gave him more than the pound he asked, as he was selling them for a good cause.

“Initially we thought Bryn would make a few pounds but we were overwhelmed in the end as he raised £60.

“Bryn would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who bought his chillies and helped him raise the money for the foodbank. Bryn was very happy.”

With the money, Bryn took to the aisles of Tesco filling his trolley with as much as he could, before donating it to the store’s foodbank collection point, as the store adds an extra 20 per cent to whatever is given in.

Laura said: “I am very proud of Bryn - for being so caring and helping those in need and also proud of his gardening skills.

“The community has been great too and have already told Bryn they loved his chillies so much that they will buy more next year.

“Bryn was very pleased and said he will definitely be growing more. He hopes to grow many more next time, as he had to tell some people he had sold out.”