Portsmouth trio save thousands of chilli plants from waste after festival is cancelled

Not ones to suffer defeat, the trio behind the festival - Mark Scarbourgh, his son Jack and friend Dave MacAskill - put their heads together and came up with a way to ensure these chillies were put to good use.

Mark had been growing thousands of chilli plants in Widley in preparation of the May event, which they were unexpectedly left with when coronavirus meant the world ground to a halt.

Mark said: ‘I had recently retired and taken up my passion of growing chillies full time. I have been growing chillies for about 30 years and have made a variety of jams and chutneys before but this year we thought that we would hold a chilli and gin festival, which was going to be at Fort Purbrook in May.

‘Obviously I had to grow lots of chillies in preparation - about 3,000 from 100 different varieties - that were going to be sold at the festival. Unfortunately that event didn’t happen so I was left with quite a lot of surplus chillies on my hands.

‘So, I decided to grow more in the large polytunnel I’ve got and to start manufacturing more types of chutneys and jams that I have done in the past. Fortunately local farms such as Purbrook Heath Farm started taking some of my jams and chutneys for sale so I was really lucky there.’

They have set up a company called Chillies from Widley to sell their produce.

Dave said that preparations for the festival had been well under way when lockdown happened, leaving the trio mightily disappointed.

He said: ‘It was going to be our first chilli and gin festival so we were disappointed, we had started harvesting and didn’t want to throw the chillies out so had to find a way to make use of them.’

The setback has not put the trio off potentially holding another festival, which they want to do to share their love of gin and chillies.

Mark said: ‘I have always been a great lover of watching people taste the chutneys and jams. I have always been one for competition. I love seeing people’s reaction to eating it. I have always been a lover of chillies in my food and I hope to promote that to other people too.’

Dave said they are hoping to be able to hold the event in 2021.

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth entrepreneur launches UK's first plastic-free coffee subscription company

He said: ‘We are hoping to be able to hold our festival next May, but with Covid restrictions we are thinking that even next May might be too soon.’

Looking on the bright side, Mark added: ‘Overall the pandemic has meant that we haven't been able to have the festival. We are looking at the date in the future to see if it will be viable for next year but it does mean that I have a steady growing market for some of the chillies.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Thank you for reading this story.

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.