Is Stratford-upon-Avon ‘to be or not to be’ home to our January 2018 conference?

We have announced that the location of our annual conference is to be held in the birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from January 21 until 24.

It will be hard to top last year’s annual conference, which took place in the picturesque St Andrews in Scotland, as it was such a success but this year we have chosen a location that is steeped in history, Stratford-upon-Avon.

We are thrilled that the conference will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It is set in beautiful landscaped gardens next to the River Avon and for the entirety of the conference we will have the usual mix of top quality speakers, analysis of inspections and garden centre best practice and announcements of competition and awards.

We will be announcing more details shortly and information on how to book in due course via our website www.gca.org.uk, but for now, be sure to keep the dates free in your diary.

Briefly, the schedule for the conference will be as follows:

• Sunday – Greenfingers Challenge Cup 
• Monday – inspection and competition round ups plus keynote speakers – based around operational issues. A themed evening dinner, networking event for garden centres and associate members.
• Tuesday – a day of strategy with keynote speakers on subjects such as the economy, challenges facing business and direction of future market trends with an emphasis on maintaining and enhancing profitability. In the afternoon there will be the supplier exhibition. In the evening we will host our Annual Gala Dinner and awards presentation.

Garden Centre team lift Greenfingers Challenge Cup

Some of our members are celebrating after being crowned the winners of a game of golf with a difference and helping raise £30,000 for Greenfingers (January, 2017).

The Greenfingers Challenge Cup, which was held at St Andrews in Scotland and marked the start of our annual conference, saw the garden centre team, the Pansies, take the crown.

This year’s Greenfingers Challenge Cup included the Pansies and the Cabbages going up against each other in a round of golf with a difference and what a fantastic event it was. It is great news that such a substantial amount was raised for such a worthwhile cause.

We’d like to congratulate the Pansies on their win and thank everyone who took part.

Guy Topping, Managing Director of Barton Grange Garden Centre lead the garden centre team and Ian Flounders from Woodlodge lead the supplier team.

Greenfingers was launched in November 1998 by a group of volunteers drawn from all sectors of the gardening industry.

It supports children who use hospices around the UK, along with their families, by creating outdoor spaces for them to enjoy with family, friends and siblings, whether through play and fun or therapeutic rest and relaxation. To date it has created 51 gardens and outdoor spaces in hospices around the country.

Garden centres scoop top awards at our conference

Garden centres from across the country scooped awards at our annual conference today (January 23, 2017).

The awards were presented to the member garden centres during the ceremony at St Andrews in Scotland.

We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our winners on their successes. It is clear that they have worked extremely hard during the past year to reach and maintain the very highest of standards in garden centre retail excellence. Our inspectors were extremely impressed with the progress.

The full list of winners announced on Monday, January 23 were:                                                     

• Christmas Competition (Garden Centre category) sponsored by Gisela Graham – Castle Gardens
• Christmas Competition (Destination Garden Centre category) sponsored by Gisela Graham – Barton Grange Garden Centre 
• Environment and Community Award – Garden Wise, Dumfries 
• Ruxley Rose (Garden Centre category) – Cowell’s Garden Centre 
• Ruxley Rose (Destination Garden Centre category) – Squires Garden Centre, Twickenham 
• Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Creativity and Innovation – Haskins Garden Centre, Southampton 
• Customer Service Award – Best Customer Service – The Old Railway Line Garden Centre 
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award – Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (Garden Centre category) – Squires Garden Centre, Shepperton 
• The Indoor Lifestyle Award – Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) – Barton Grange Garden Centre 
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Garden Centre category) – Cowell’s Garden Centre 
• The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) – Barton Grange Garden Centre 
• Dick Allen Award (Most Improved Garden Centre) – Langlands Garden Centre, Loxley 
• The IFSE Award for Catering Excellence – Best Garden Centre Restaurant (Garden Centre Category) – Squires Garden Centre, Shepperton 
• The IFSE Award for Catering Excellence – Best Garden Centre Restaurant (Destination Garden Centre Category) – Bents Garden and Home 
• Weber Outdoor Living Award – Best Outdoor Living Retailer (Garden Centre Category) – Fairways Garden Centre, Ashbourne 
• Weber Outdoor Living Award – Best Outdoor Living Retailer (Destination Garden Centre Category) Bents Garden and Home.