Feminist Germaine Greer was among more than 500 people at the Red Cross's Annual Plant sale.

The sale at Cressing Temple Barns near Witham featured plants from more than 36 nurseries throughout the county and should raise more than £2,000 towards the work of the Red Cross in Essex, which includes equipment loans, First Aid classes and First Aid cover at public events.

The event was organised by Yvonne Jackson, who had invited feminist Germaine Greer to open the event, but she was held up in traffic.

Essex branch director Barry Trewern said: "She arrived about 20 minutes late. We had to open because there were so many people outside queueing."

However, Ms Greer promised to make up for her late arrival by opening another Red Cross event, and left with lots of plants for her own garden.

Plant sale - celebrity Germaine Greer bought several plants for her own garden when she attended the Red Cross event at Temple Barns.

Picture: STEPHANIE MACKRILL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.