It's bananas! Tropical fruit trees flourish in Felpham

Kevin White succeeded in bringing the tropical fruit to life. So far, 28 bananas have grown from the first banana tree he planted four years ago.

More are on the way every day. The small green fruit just need a few days of so-far elusive sunshine to swell and ripen them ready for eating.

Kevin (67) said the secret to nurturing the fruit against the worst of the British weather was to look after them in winter.

'You have to keep them wrapped up. I put wood and metal stakes around the trees, wrap a tarpaulin cover around them and fill it up with straw. In about April, I take all that off when the new growth starts,' he explained.

His success comes after he grew bananas good enough to eat in 1960 in Shopwyke Nurseries near Chichester.

The chance to repeat his feat arose when he saw a banana tree being ripped up when a garden was being altered.

He rescued it and spent four years looking after it before he was rewarded with the first fruit as the tree reached about 25ft high.

Another four trees, with two more on the way, have formed from the original one to promise more fruit in the summers to come '“ weather permitting.

Kevin, of Newbarn Lane, has been gardening all his life. He worked as a gardener before he moved into civil engineering and became a deep sea diver before his retirement.