Four generations ago, Thomas Ingle, sowed the first seed for 'Ingles' nurseries' on half an acre of rented land in Thornton-Cleveleys. Established in 1907, the company has spent nearly a century growing fresh produce, specialising today, in the production of salad cress and beansprouts.

But this has not always been the case. When the business first started seeds of another sort grew in the greenhouse on West Drive, as lettuces sprouted and chrysanthemums began to bloom. In fact, in 1919 cress was still only a 'catch crop,' grown to supplement the main crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, mint, daffodils, chrysanthemums and tulips.

At the beginning, the crop grew in beds of soil off the floor of the greenhouses, resembling a green carpet. The female workers had to harvest the cress on their hands and knees, using a small bladed knife.

Then, cress was manually moved straight on to palettes for the men to wheelbarrow in to the adjacent packing sheds. There it was packed by hand and stored in coolers.It was another 40 years before cress production started to become automated and machines began replacing some of the workers tasks. The 1960s saw the 'hot and cold' crop gain in popularity until eventually cress became the leading crop at the nurseries and other produce was gradually phased out.