1.4m strawberries are heading for SW19
We’ll get tickets – even if we have to camp all night!
THE first of the 1.4million strawberries needed for the tournament will be picked at 5am today.
Hugh Lowe Farms in Kent will produce 33 tonnes of the fruit during the competition, all complying with strict Wimbledon criteria.
Two teams of 40 pickers will be collecting strawberries that must be 25mm-45mm in diameter, ripe and defect free. They will then be delivered to the All England Club for 10am to be ‘hulled’ and split into punnets of ten.
Spectators at last year’s event also saw off 2,198 afternoon tea hampers, 17,170 portions of fish and chips and 117,507 pints of lager, beer and cider.
Meanwhile, players fuelled themselves with 4,235 servings of pasta, 1,41 portions of sushi and 2,195kg of bananas. Marion Regan, owner of Hugh Lowe Farms, told The Sunday Times magazine: ‘Our family business has been selling strawberries since 1893, when my great-grandfather grew his first crop for the family stall at the old Covent Garden market in London.’
Anthony Davies, head of food and beverage at the All England Club, said 50 weeks of planning goes into the fortnight.