Crickhowell couple Ruth Cornish and John Hyde raised almost £300 for a local heart charity at the weekend, by selling entries to the North Gwent Cardiac Rehabilitation & Aftercare Charity’s annual fundraising Potato Growing Challenge.

The couple’s pop-up stall, outside Treebeards Bar in Crickhowell High Street, proved a big hit with shoppers: “We set ourselves a target of selling 40 Challenge kits by the time the rugby started, and we were amazed by the response: people loved the idea,” said Ruth, who plans to complete six fundraising tasks for the charity this year, to mark her 60th birthday.

The Potato Challenge was her second task, following on from her fundraising Massage Day on St David’s Day, which raised £200 for the charity.

There is still time to enter the Challenge, with potato growing kits available from the charity’s stall at the Abergavenny Garden Centre this weekend, 14-15 March, and next weekend, 21-22 March, from 10am-4pm.

Proceeds from the Challenge, which runs until the official harvest weigh-in on 11 July, will help fund the charity’s work providing community-based cardiac rehab exercise classes across the region.

For more info on the Potato Challenge and Ruth’s year of fundraising challenges, go to cardiac-rehab.org.uk/whats-on/