In This Issue
Garden retailers sign up to industry Xylella statement
Haskins and Squires reign supreme in South Thames
Webbs and Fairways star in Midlands GCA Awards
On trend Garden Screens from Grange
Sunshine and Perrywood glow in North Thames
Time for a summer celebration?
Rising Stars 2017 - The final 12
Suppliers sign up for Retail Lab @ Glee
Team Bonningtons Conquers the Alps
‘Anniversary Splendour’ is winning name for new Notcutts rose
Glee 2017: keynote speaker confirmed as award-winning garden journalist Nick Bailey
Woodlodge to skydive for Greenfingers!
Hartley Botanic reveals new Octagonal Glasshouse at RHS Hyde Hall
Nematodes are so easy to use, all it takes is a good watering!
Fryer’s come up Roses at 2017 RHS Shows
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Concept store becomes EFSA TrendZone at spoga+gafa
Growing support sales
Andy Smith becomes Group Head of Purchasing at Klondyke
Primary School scoops Wilkinson Sword Award
Taylors grab 50% of Veg 2 Gro sales
Wyevale Nurseries’ staff join 30 years’ service club
Summer colour and houseplants up
Xylella fastidiosa - a threat to the U.K. Horticulture industry
Garden improvement grows soils
Hillmount BBQ Academy teaches the next generation of customers
New senior leadership at the Coleman EMEA Group
It’s the year of pets at Glee 2017
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
Fryers respond to standards issue in Rosary Restaurant
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Primary School scoops Wilkinson Sword Award
 

Stanford in the Vale CE Primary School’s Gardening Club is rounding off a summer filled with Gold Awards from RHS Wisley and nominations for ‘RHS Gardening Team of the Year 2017’, with another win. Children at the Oxfordshire Primary School have been crowned the champions of Wilkinson Sword’s Gardening for Schools competition.

 

The competition challenged primary schoolchildren to design their ideal fruit and vegetable garden for their school. Hundreds of youngsters submitted their painstakingly-planned plots but in the end, there could be only one winner.

 

On a sunny July afternoon, staff from Wilkinson Sword visited the school to meet the impressive children, and to provide them with their prizes; an extensive hamper full of all the tools they need to keep their garden growing. Diana Thomas, proud mum to Garden Club members Imogen (nine) and Joel (six), explained how both children attend the club every Wednesday, as well as tending to their own allotment. “I am extremely proud that all of their hard work is paying off,” she commented, adding that they love growing their own fruit and vegetables, and can’t wait to start using the new tools.

 

Helping to present the prizes was the RHS Young Gardener of the Year (2012), Lucas Hatch, who also provided a fig growing masterclass! Lucas is just approaching his 14th birthday, but has a wealth of experience under his belt already and knows all about encouraging children to garden, spending a lot of time at his old primary school helping children to develop their gardens.

 

The Gardening Club is run by the very dedicated Sue Finney, who commented on the day, " It is a great honour that Stanford in the Vale Gardening Club members have become overall winners of this prestigious award.  The children's garden designs shall be used to revamp our growing area with the help of our new tools. A big thank you to the Wilkinson Sword team and a very inspirational thank you to Lucas Hatch who has inspired many Stanford young garden members - we love the tools and meeting everyone." 

 

Nick Hills, Garden Division General Manager for Wilkinson Sword said: “We had no idea how popular this would be, or quite how high the quality of applicants would be, but the judges were so impressed with the standard of design that the Stanford in the Vale children came up with, choosing them as the winner was an easy decision. They impressed all of the judges with their imaginative and competent design.”

 

The school Gardening Club operates once a week, as an after-school activity and, as their application letter points out, many children still attend even once they have left the primary school. Not only that, but the children have a strong commitment to their community, and plant up the borders at the entrance to the village every year, and plant wildflowers in the park. 

Of the competition, and worthy winners Nick commented, “We are passionate about getting children more involved in the garden, and are proud to play a part in this inspirational gardening club’s ongoing horticultural education. The success of this first competition has inspired us to make it an annual event, rolling it out to the rest of the country next year. We hope that this will encourage more children to get motivated about getting their hands dirty, and their tummies full of home grown food!”

 

Further information about Wilkinson Sword’s range of garden tools can be found at www.wilkinsonsword-tools.co.uk.

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