Squire’s centres at Woking and Badshot Lea have been announced as joint winners of a competition to create a floral display that was wildlife friendly and referenced the company’s 80years in the horticulture industry as part of this year’s celebrate their anniversary celebrations.

The competition, called “Living 80 Years”, was judged by Colin Squire (chairman) and Sarah Squire (deputy chairman) in two categories – “Best Display” and “Most Innovative”.

Woking impressed the judges with their fabulous flowerpot man reading George Orwell, which was published in 1936, the same year that Squire’s was founded. The winning display at Badshot Lea has a wall specially created to make it look like authentic bricks of the 1930’s, with a window through which you can see a vignette of the Squire’s Twickenham site (one of the first garden centres in the UK) and a mixture of planting including the Violet Squire Rose.

The award for the “Most Innovative” display went to Crawley (right, with Colin Squire and employees Shaun, Tracey and Leanne) who created an elegant plant-focused display, using a ship’s wheel to make the number 80, and with a flowing river of blue flowers to represent the River Thames – which is very close to a number of Squire’s centres including Twickenham, Shepperton and Windsor.

There were also two runners-up in the “Best Display” category – West Horsley and Long Ditton.

Runners-up in this category were Cobham for bringing The Great British Bake Off to Squire’s with their magnificent birthday cake, and Milford for their superb wildlife friendly display.