LES Hunter has made history by becoming the first Barnsley man to be named a national champion chrysanthemum grower.

The 74-year-old has been growing them for 49 years and told the Chronicle he was overwhelmed to be named as champion by the National Chrysanthemum Society at a competition in Stafford.

It took Les, of Orchard Close, Cawthorne, a year to prepare for the individual champion class, putting in hours of tender loving care since November last year to make sure they were in tip top shape for the competition.

"There is no prize money or anything like that, it's purely for the prestige you get in the flower world. I've entered it before but only came third and fourth but no-one in Barnsley has ever won before."

Les had to take about 30 flowers down with him to the competition, which is held in a huge barn, to create four vases of displays of the flowers in different blooming stages including five stems of incas, five stems of spares, five of intermediates and five of reflex.

"I'm quite a small grower compared to most," says Les, a former miner.

"A lot of people will grow thousands and thousands of flowers a year which is a sight to see but I don't grow a lot, I've got about 80 all together in the garden and on the allotment.

"I got into it because I used to be a miner and in them days that is what you did, you either went to the pub or went down the allotment. You can see what I chose to do.

"It's like a drug growing flowers, I love it and I'm addicted. Every year I say I'll give in but I never do."