The food hall and farm shops category within garden centres saw positive sales during January (2021) according to our Barometer of Trade (BoT) report. Garden centres in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland remained closed during the month, which affected the overall picture greatly, however centres in England were permitted to remain open as essential retailers.…
The first regional meetings of 2021 for our members were held online and were hailed a great success by attendees recently. Garden centre staff from South Thames, Midlands and Wales & West, North Thames, North West and North East got together virtually to discuss and air their views with their peers. Although slightly different from…
Another fantastic booking for our 2020 conference was Former BBC Chief News Correspondent Kate Adie CBE. As the BBC’s Chief News Correspondent, Kate covered the Gulf War, the demise of the Soviet Union, the protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and NATO’s campaign in Kosovo. She began her career as a technician in radio before being…
As we look back on our 2020 conference, we’re remembering the wise words we heard from environmentalist, Trewin Restorick. Trewin is the founding CEO of Hubbub, a charity which makes environmental issues fun. It works to bring issues of climate change, carbon footprints and global warming into the public eye in a fun and light-hearted…
Another highlight from our 2020 conference was hearing from co-founder and Executive Vice Chair of the award-winning Eden Project, Sir Tim Smit KBE. Everyone who is familiar with the Eden Project will know how successful it has been. It is both a showcase for world-class horticulture and an architectural symbol of human endeavour. Eden has…
We’ve recently (February 2021) elected new members to the board/Executive Committee at our AGM The AGM meeting took place on February 2 with GCA members in attendance “virtually”, as the meeting was held online. Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “The AGM is held at the start of the GCA Conference in January…
What a fantastic speaker Dame Kelly Holmes MBE was at our 2020 conference. We are still hearing comments from our members about how inspirational she was, and we think it’s going to be hard to top her appearance when we line up speakers for our next conference. Kelly joined us to speak to our attendees…
Paul Mason was a booking that many didn’t expect for our 2020 conference. As part of our series of blogs looking back at the conference, we wanted to remind you of some of the highlights from Paul’s talk. Paul was Channel 4’s Culture and Digital Editor, examining the social, cultural and business impact of the…
Our members will still be able to get together for their regional meetings in a virtual capacity this year (2021). The meetings will kick off for the South Thames area on Wednesday, January 27, followed by a joint meeting for the Midlands and Wales & West areas on Thursday, January 28. We’re thrilled to announce…
We want to help those who took up gardening during the 2020 lockdowns continue with their new hobby this year. With us all currently being at home again for the foreseeable, now is the time to plan what projects you can do in the garden. It’s a great way to keep your mind occupied and…