PERSHORE'S fourth annual Plum Festival culminated this week with the unveiling of a new variety of the fruit for the first time in almost a century.

At the town's plum fair and farmers' market on Bank Holiday Monday retired carpenter Ged Witts, aged 71, showed off the new plum that he has produced on his allotment in the town.

Dubbed the Pershore Emblem in recognition of the link between Pershore and plums, Mr Witts said the new plum was a sweeter, juicier version of the more familiar Pershore Purple.

He said the samples he took to Monday's fair on Broad Street were delicious eaten 'raw' from the tree and generated a good deal of interest.

"I had to go back to the allotment and pick a few more to keep exhibiting," he said. "Lots of people were interested in how to get a tree so they could grow them themselves."

He said he was now working with Pershore College to see how the Emblem could be promoted to the region's fruit growers.

Mr Witts, of Appletree Road, has been a keen gardener for most of his life but he said he grew the new plum by chance.

"I've always been observant and if I see anything that looks a bit different I try to propagate it."

His wife, Margaret, said her husband loved discovering new types of plant on his allotment and all the family had tried the new plum and loved it.

Dave Shaw, who founded the festival to revive interest in local produce after seeing plums rotting in fields, described this year's event, which featured the farmers' market for the first time, as an 'unqualified success,' attracting visitors from as far away as the West Midlands.

"It was astonishing," he said. "In the first three hours there were about 1,200 people shopping in Broad Street."

He said many of the farmers sold out of plums, bread, cheese and milk and shops and pubs in the town also reported brisk business.

"It was a good day for the town," said Mr Shaw. "People were asking if we could do the market once a month."

The fair marked the end of eight days of exhibitions and displays designed to boost the profile of the plum and highlight its importance to Pershore.