Humongous 44 stone pumpkin delivered to Chorley nursing home for some Halloween fun

Residents of Springfield Nursing Home in Coppull, near Chorley, sharpened their carving tools to celebrate Halloween by carving the 600-pound vegetable one by one.

The humungous vegetable was grown by Coppull’s Richard Hope, a British sunflower growing champion who, in 2012, grew one of the long-stemmed plant some 26 feet into the air.

He pays regular visits to the nursing home where his daughter Gillian Hope works as activities co-ordinator.

A spokesman for the nursing home said: “With the help of her dad, Gillian managed to get a giant pumpkin to Springfield Nursing Home to surprise all the residents for their annual Halloween party; the pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 700 pounds.

“It took more than five men and a trailer to get it to the home to be carved on time for their Halloween fun.”

The nursing home held a Halloween party to celebrate the day and impressive carving.

Hazel Gorman, a resident at Springfield, said: “It’s oh so big, I couldn’t believe the size of it!”

For the party Springfield’s head chef Paul had organised a Dracula’s Dinner which consisted of Ghoulish goulash, Goblin pie and a terrifying trifle.

Earlier this year national champion Richard judged a sunflower growing competition at the nursing home, with the winning sunflower growing a whopping 127 inches tall – just one inch taller than second place.