In This Issue
Joules acquires digitally led retailer Garden Trading
Petition to get Garden Centres in Scotland and Wales open again as soon as possible gains momentum, but they still need our help
The green shoots of recovery
From Seeds to Suet, Honeyfield’s continue to innovate
Looking forward to better weather
Join the Twinkly revolution at new UK showroom
New Board Members and Future Chairman confirmed at GCA AGM
100% responsible ‘Food Range’ released by Cotswold Granaries
Plant sales more than double
Join Korbond at Spring Fair 2021, this week!
Pearson Memorial medal awarded to Adam Wigglesworth of Aylett Nurseries
Risk to Scottish horticulture growing each day
One million steps for Garden Re-Leaf 2021
AMES UK invest more than £1m in infrastructure and people in response to increasing market demand
The national interest in houseplants is sky-rocketing
GTN's Christmas Special Issue - read on-line here
Gardening expert Richard Jackson challenges Britain to get ready, steady, grow!
Mental health body is garden centre's charity of the year
Dobbies bids to tackle food waste with Magic Bag
Venturing outdoors for mind, body and soul
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
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Pots of potential for container gardening
Garden businesses wilt under Brexit trade rules
Working together for better plant health
Cold weather boost for Wild Bird Care
Onions dominate Veg-2-Gro sales
Uplift in demand causes Greenregis mail order business to move
Introducing ‘The Real Soil Company’ – the new name in high-quality, results-driven topsoil
Gift card sales surge over UK’s first Covid Christmas
The best of last week's
Sign online petition to get Welsh centres re-opened
Moving on up… slowly
Greenfingers Charity welcomes Guy Topping as Trustee
RHS awards key outdoor pots license to Woodlodge
Jeno Floral - pick of the Christmas Bestsellers
Great roofing products for the garden make-over boom
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
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
Lily's Kitchen launches limited edition Valentine's Day dog tin
Send us your news and great ideas

Contact us with your news.

Email trevor@pottingshedpress.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 07973 504214

 

Sponsored by:


Mental health body is garden centre's charity of the year

 

As Covid-19 related mental health issues continue to spiral, a Batley based charity that offers free training sessions to help promote physical and mental wellbeing will benefit from the generosity of Tong Garden Centre's customers and staff this year.

 

Staff at the Bradford garden centre have announced that ‘Luke's Lads' and sister charity, ‘Butterflies' will be their Charity of the Year for 2021, following a unanimous staff vote.

 

Through a series of fund-raising events and collection boxes at the tills, the team at Tong hopes to raise £10,000 for the charity that provides free circuit and support sessions to encourage young people and adults to talk about their feelings/

 

Luke's Lads was established in 2018 after local man Luke Naylor committed suicide following a battle with mental health and depression. It was set up by his best friend, Elliot Gorman and his mother, Rachel Walmsley with the support of Luke's family: "Our aim for this group is to give people a safe place to express their feelings, get active and help promote physical and mental wellbeing.

 

"For someone like myself, who has experienced mental health issues, this is something I am committed to and passionate about.

 

"I hope that by sharing my experience, it will give at least one person the confidence, with support, to confront how they are feeling, not bottle things up and know that it's OK not to be OK."
 

The Charity of the Year fundraising is managed by a committee led by the People and Culture team at the Tong Lane site. Junior People and Culture Business Partner, Becki Smith said: "Male suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK, with many men suffering in silence when they experience feelings of sadness, loneliness or anxiety.

Luke's Lads and Butterflies are brilliant groups for young people and adults to help to restore their confidence and their ability to be part of a social group. The sessions incorporate exercise and the chance to talk about sensitive subjects. The exercise helps them to feel good about themselves whilst the confidential chats enable people to open up. We really want to raise awareness of this charity as well as important funds to ensure they can help local people."

 

Plans to raise the funds include a virtual sponsored walk from Land's End to John o' Groats and back; a cycle challenge led by Tong's MD, Mark Farnsworth; a Valentine's raffle and a charity ball.

 

Mr. Gorman is delighted with Tong's support: "We have been completely overwhelmed with the support we have had since we started and it has truly confirmed to us that what we are doing is not only right, but absolutely essential.

 

"We are absolutely blown away by the goal of £10k that Tong Garden Centre have set themselves to raise for the Luke's Lads and Butterflies projects. With this amount, we can potentially offer almost 1500 mental health and suicide interventions for people aged 11 and over.

 

"If you or someone you know could benefit from attending our sessions, please email charitytcd@gmail.com for details."

 

Luke's Lads and Butterflies are based in the same Batley venue in Jo Cox House. Both groups are supported by the charity TCD - Tackling social isolation in the Community through Diverse activities and Mr. Gorman is its Chairperson.

 

Since Tong Garden Centre was acquired by new owners in 2015, the team and supporters have raised over £40,000. Previous beneficiaries of Tong's Charity of the Year initiative include Martin House Hospice, The Cellar Trust, Candlelighters and National Literacy Trust. In addition, the team has supported hundreds of smaller charities in the local community.

 

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 19 acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire's biggest independent garden centres with 125,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 700 cars.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg | Comment (0)
Comment
Name:*

Email Address:*

Comment:*