In This Issue
Signs of growth for after lockdown
Join the Twinkly revolution! 
Industry taskforce to produce roadmap for a peat-free future
Hillmount boss warns of disarray for gardeners in Northern Ireland as spring approaches
AMES UK reports record revenues in 2020
Altons BBQ World, Aylett Nurseries, Barton Grange, Baytree, Busy Bee, Groves, Pengelly, Pughs, The Old Railway Line and Squires Badshot Lea are the winners of GTN's Greatest Christmas Awards
Christmas Future Trends at Glee's Festive Focus Day
Fordingbridge undertakes major work at Norfolk centre
How The Greener Gardening Company is exceeding peat-free expectations
elho provides reassurance and growth in post-Brexit economy
HTA teams up with the Planet Mark in move towards decarbonisation in horticulture
UK and Dutch firms join forces
Hyve Group announces exclusive speaker line-up for Spring Fair @ Home, including Theo Paphitis
LECHUZA sets the new standard in planters
Southern Trident’s CEO goes the distance for Perennial
Whartons Nurseries partners with Joy of Plants for webshop image library
Johnsons Lawn Seed heads into 2021 with confidence
Wyevale Nurseries receives ISO for peat reduction
GARDENA launches new soil moisture sensor
A New Year update from Greenfingers
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
My House Plant Changed My Life by David Domoney
Wildlife specialist appoints new head of sales
Plant sales stay low
Rolawn awarded environment accolade for second year
GCA announces virtual regional meetings
Seeds of light for spring activity
Online wellbeing studio encourages connections to natural world
Ringing the pepper changes with 'Bellrouge'
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Organisers of spoga+gafa issue statement on this year's event
Blue Diamond to open the largest Home and Garden Centre in the UK
Lockdown #3 creates the slowest start to the year, but Veg 2 Gro sales are up
Future proofing your garden centre for maximum flexibility and profitability
Harrogate Christmas & Gift moves to early May
Garden centre owners share their thoughts on being open during Lockdown 3
The best of last week's
Barton Grange Christmas 2020 - Exclusive GTN Xtra Photo Tour
Squires Badshot Lea - Christmas 2020
Perrywood at Christmas 2020 - with correct photo gallery now...
British Garden Centres open their 58th centre at Thatcham
Haskins Snowhill re-opens after £15m re-vamp
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to the GTN Bestsellers printed weekly newsletter
All the latest news from the world of pet products
Unique doggy day care centre planned for Dobbies store
Laughing Dog adds to healthy treat range
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Organisers of spoga+gafa issue statement on this year's event

The organisers of spoga+gafa have issued a statement on this year's event due to take place in late May and early June...

 

The months ahead will be suspenseful and challenging, but also promising. It’s not easy for some of you to believe in the opportunities of an event that will be held in a little over four months from now, especially when other trade fair projects are currently being cancelled. We take your uncertainty seriously. However, we, the team of spoga+gafa, believe we have an opportunity. We are confident that a specialist trade show such as spoga+gafa can, should and will be held a little over four months from now. However, we still need some time before we can better and more reliably assess how the situation will be like in early summer. And we will take this time together. As we have discussed with many of you, whether the committees, your associations, the individual visitor groups and many exhibitors, we want to at least see together how things develop in Europe and intercontinentally in February before we make a final decision. 

 

We will then, two and a half to three months to go before spoga+gafa 2021 commences (30 May –  1 June 2021), be able to better assess the possibilities and willingness of our business visitors to travel to Cologne. Our decisions always take into account the fact that three quarters of our guests have come from Europe in recent years. We remain optimistic that these people, at least, will once again be able to attend the world’s largest garden lifestyle event this year. Until then, we and our partners, who represent your interests, have agreed to keep calm and to take a wait-and-see approach. We should therefore not let ourselves be influenced too much by the current situation — we are headed in the right direction. We’ve agreed to keep calm and to trust in the opportunity that time will give us. 

 

New visitor congresses at spoga+gafa 2021 

How does spoga+gafa currently stand after the permanently earlier date was announced? We are delighted to tell you that your garden lifestyle fair is in excellent shape. This is particularly demonstrated by the large number of reservations that we’ve received for all of the segments in all of the 14 halls.  

 

Although we are delighted about the stable number of exhibitors, we are also very happy about new visitor-related developments that will further boost the event’s value added. The influx of new big-name exhibitors and the wishes for larger stands on the part of our well-established exhibitors have encouraged us to conduct talks with various national and international visitor associations in recent weeks. This was done with the aim of inviting them to hold their annual general meetings at or close to spoga+gafa.  

 

All of these talks were favourable and promising for you, the partners of spoga+gafa. As of today, we will welcome the following visitor meetings, some of which are new, to this year’s spoga+gafa and its environs (examples, more to follow): 

 

The ‘Garden Summit 2021’ of the BHB (Federal Association of the German DIY, Building and Garden Specialist Stores) on the grounds of spoga+gafa on the afternoon of 1 June 2021. 

The BHB is a specialist association that represents the interests of the trading firms for  do-it-yourselfers, builders and gardeners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland 
(the “D-A-CH” region) and of other companies from the DIY sector, from industry, and  from the services sector. As an association with an international focus, the BHB is active in Germany, and, through its membership of the European DIY Retail Association (EDRA), throughout all of Europe. The annual garden meeting of the BHB and its members will be held at spoga+gafa 2021.  

 

VDG Winter Conference. The annual general meeting of the German garden centres will take place at spoga+gafa 2021.  

The Verband Deutscher Garten-Center (Association of German Garden Centres) represents the interests of privately owned and managed garden centres. These garden centres are the leaders in their region. A garden centre’s size isn’t as decisive as its expertise. The VDG’s Winter Conference, the main annual convention of the German garden centres, will be held at spoga+gafa 2021. 

 

Motoristen-Kongress, 30 May 2021 at spoga+gafa 

The annual meeting of the specialist power tool dealers will be held at spoga+gafa for the first time. The aim of this congress is to bring the various players of the power tool sector together and to promote the exchange of ideas concerning the latest trends and topics. 

 

Although the path we have to take to get to this year’s trade fair won’t be easy, rest assured that by pulling together we will be able to make spoga+gafa  a success for everyone involved. The trade fair will certainly look different this time: Although it might be smaller and less intercontinental, it certainly won’t offer fewer opportunities for all of  you to be successful. ‘Form follows function’ is our in-house action and planning motto for 
spoga+gafa 2021. It shows that our one and only goal this year is to offer you the opportunity to bring supply and demand together on the spoga+gafa platform, whether at the physical event or the digital trade fair that will be held in parallel. It’s a matter of what we need to do, rather than what would be nice to see. And it can work if everyone keeps their distance so that the event will be a success. 

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