"On Friday, hundreds of you will host quizzes, garden tours, cake sales, Plant-athons and post #gluvies - all in celebration of Garden Re-Leaf Day 2017.

"To drum up support we like to think of Garden Re-Leaf Day as a great way to kick start that all important early spring buzz in garden centres – but what does your support really mean to our small but impactful national charity?

"First of all, I must take this opportunity to thank you all so much for registering to take part in this year’s event.  We have once again been overwhelmed by the generosity of those who have signed up to support Garden Re-Leaf Day, which is the main fundraising day for our ‘A Million Moments’ campaign, aiming to raise £1m to benefit more than 5,000 individuals that would benefit from our hospice gardens.

"Whether you have taken part before or are joining in for the first time - you are all helping to give the gift of a garden - a sanctuary, a playground, a place to reflect and remember - to life-limited children and their families who rely on hospice care.

"By supporting Garden Re-Leaf Day, you are helping Greenfingers make a real difference to families that face the unbearable each and every day.  Forced apart by circumstance, having to spend time with their child in a hospice when they would much rather a normal life together under the same roof, something most of us take for granted.

"With the funds that you raise through Garden Re-Leaf Day, we can’t solve these issues – but, like the hospices themselves, we are able to make things that much easier for patients and their families.

"With at least five more new children’s hospice gardens currently in the planning, build or design stages, the money you raise is being put to work as we speak.  We’re currently on site at Keech Hospice Care (Luton) and Helen House (Oxford), as well as planning new gardens at Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice (Maidenhead), Grace House (Sunderland), Robin House on the banks of Loch Lomond and St Andrew’s Hospice (Grimbsy), with more waiting in the wings for our help.

"It is only due to the generosity of you, our supporters that we can continue our work creating magical, inspiring and therapeutic gardens - so thank you so very much for being part of Garden Re-Leaf Day and for helping Greenfingers Charity continue to its work with children’s hospices."

Find out more

Linda Petrons is Head of Fundraising and Communications at Greenfingers, and can be contacted by emailinglinda@greenfingerscharity.org.uk or calling the Greenfingers office on 01494 674749.  If you still need to register your event you can fill in the simple form available on line at www.gardenreleaf.co.uk/register-an-event.

All of the money raised from Garden Re-Leaf Day fundraising this year will once again go towards Greenfingers’ ‘A Million Moments Appeal’.  Greenfingers aims to raise £1 million under the banner of the A Million Moments appeal over three years to enable at least 5,000 children who spend time in hospices, and their families, to enjoy spending precious time together outdoors. 

The third annual Garden Re-Leaf walk takes place in Cambridge today.   A record breaking 104 walkers will be meeting at Scotsdales, Cambridge, looking to rake in over £10,000 for Greenfingers Charity and spread awareness for the garden industry’s main fundraising day

Walkers this year will choose from two routes – 10 or 20 miles – taking in the sights of Jesus college and Cambridge University botanical gardens, with a special detour for those with dogs.  Both routes start at Scotsdales Horningsea at 10am, and finish at Scotsdales Great Shelford

Supporters

The main sponsors of the walk are Scotsdales, who as well as hosting the start and finish of the fundraiser, and entering a team of walkers to take part, will also be staging some fundraising of their own at the finish line.  Top Milton Keynes ladies rower Heidi Towse will be rowing the full 20 mile route throughout the day, fundraising in front of customers with the aid of a static rowing machine in the Great Shelford store.

Solex organisers LOFA (the Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association), and Outback will also be providing a special barbecue at the finish line to inspire hungry walkers!

Kelkay and Garden Trade News are sponsoring the T-shirts being worn by participants, which will feature logos from the other 2017 sponsors.

Briers will be issuing a free pair of Greenfingers gloves to every participant, to help aid awareness for the day as everyone takes to Twitter and Instagram with their #Gluvies photos.

Cadix are sponsoring one of the support vehicles that will weave between various points of the route, helping where needed.

SBM Life Sciences are sponsoring the medals – a first for any Garden Re-Leaf Day event – as well as manning one of the water stations.

Hozelock are sponsoring goodie bags.

Quinton Edwards – the garden industry property specialists are supplying a driver and car to support the Greenfingers team.

Greenfingers Head of Fundraising, Linda Petrons, said: “The Garden Re-Leaf walk, especially with the two separate routes we’re running this year, can cost a lot of time and money in terms of organising and logistics. Getting T-shirts made, refreshments and support vehicles for example all cost money - so we are of course humbled by the generosity from all of our supporters this year.”

The list of walkers include

Jackie Eades                     Briers 

Charlotte Prentice          Briers 

Matt Jackson                    Briers 

Mandy James                   Briers 

Sharmini Martin              Briers 

Tristan Sissons                 Briers 

Lolly Lee                            The Orangery 

Kate Ebbens                     Cadix 

Heather Black                  Cadix 

Danni Faulkner                Cadix 

Peter Guinness                Cadix 

Alison Hawker                 Cadix 

Rebecca Hawker             Cadix 

Robert Montano             Cadix 

Caroline Smith                 Cadix 

Doug Hill                           Cadix 

Jason Perrins                    Gardman 

Gemma King                     Gardman 

Vicky Nuttall                    GIMA 

Craig Hall                           Deco-Pak 

Richard Pyrah                   Kelkay 

Al Shepherd                      Kelkay 

John Ducker                     Kelkay 

Simon McArdle                Westlands

Tom Clamp                        Westlands (+20 walkers TBC)

Natalie Searle                  Crest Garden

Kim Huynh                        Crest Garden

Darren Brown                  SBM Life-Sciences

Lisa Barrow                       SBM Life-Sciences

Tim Jeffries                       Mr Fothergill's 

David Carey                      Mr Fothergill's 

Ian Cross                           Mr Fothergill's 

Alison Roberts                 Mr Fothergill's 

Alison Mulvaney             Mr Fothergill's 

Richard Keegan                Mr Fothergill's 

Samantha Broadway      Mr Fothergill's 

Ralph Fitter                      Vitax 

Simon Quinton Smith    Quinton Edwards

Trevor & Karen Pfeiffer   GTN

Kimberley Hornby          Hornby Whitefoot

Heidi Towse                      Frosts Garden Centre 

David Nicholson              Elho 

Craig Keyworth                Elho 

Adam Last                         Elho 

Louise Haskins                 Elho 

Bobby Fisher                    Elho 

Chris Houfe                       Great British Cards

Alyson Haywood             Alyson Haywood

Matthew Mein                Ascential (Glee)

Fernanda Pinto                Ascential (Glee)

Boyd Douglas Davies     Greenfingers Trustee 

20 Walkers TBC                Kew Green Hotels

Nicholas Clarkson           Scotsdales

Jennifer Ferro                   Scotsdales

Shelagh Ward                  Scotsdales

Peter Jackson                   Scotsdales

Jane Lawler                      Jane Lawler Assocs

Paul Steane                      Scomac

Linda Petrons, Head of Fundraising at Greenfingers Charity added: “The walk is open to absolutely anyone, whether you’re working in or alongside the garden industry as the list demonstrates.  It’s a great opportunity to raise funds, excellent for team building and a good way to spend time with colleagues and acquaintances away from the office.”

All of the money raised from the walk and many other Garden Re-Leaf Day events this year will once again go towards Greenfingers’ ‘A Million Moments Appeal’.  Greenfingers aims to raise £1 million under the banner of the A Million Moments appeal over three years to enable at least 5,000 children who spend time in hospices, and their families, to enjoy spending precious time together outdoors.  

Record bookings have been received for the APL Awards 2017 which will exceed 330 attendees when it takes place today at The Brewery, London.

Guests will celebrate Garden Re-Leaf Day by raising money for Greenfingers led by guest speaker Adam Frost who has designed and built Greenfingers gardens at Childrens Hospices.

The annual awards ceremony, sponsored by Bradstone, brings together members of the APL alongside their industry peers, to celebrate and recognise the outstanding landscaping they have carried out over the last year.

Motivating Landscape Designer, Adam Frost, is welcomed on the day as special guest speaker to share the insightful tale of his ‘Journey so far’ including the rollercoaster ride of designing multiple award winning show gardens! From a lifetime in the garden, Adam’s talks are always full of amusing stories, as well as advice and inspiration.

With a record breaking number of submissions and the standard of entries exceeding expectation, this year’s awards promise to showcase landscaping at its very best, highlighting those that are truly at the top of their game.

On 17th March 2017 the staff at Hornsea Garden Centre will embark on a 625 mile bike ride without even leaving the garden centre. Using turbo trainers their ‘bike ride’ will see them visit every centre in the British Garden Centres group. From Middlesbrough to Bedfordshire – a huge map will be located in the newly built garden centre shop and the cyclists will track their progress as they endure this gruelling bike ride.

All of this is to raise money and awareness for the Greenfingers charity. Customers are invited to join staff at Hornsea in support of their challenge and they welcome any donations. The staff have also set up a just giving page called ‘Hornsea Garden Centre – The Big Bike Ride’.

British Garden Centres is the garden centre brand built on the strong family values of two Lincolnshire brothers with a passion for developing garden centres.  With 23 years of experience and a wealth of gardening knowledge, Charles and Robert Stubbs are now owners of ten well established garden centres throughout England. Each with its own unique character but equally committed to offering the very best in quality products and expert advice. British Garden Centres proudly supports the Greenfingers Charity. 

Garden Centres, suppliers and many others have pledged their support for Garden Re-Leaf Day this year.  Here’s a summary of what’s happening:

Garden Centres and others

Adrian Hall is holding a Vintage Tea Party; Aylett’s Garden Centre is planning a‘Mad Hatter Day’ with guest speaker Pippa Greenwood who will be demonstrating Haxnicks’ products, thanks to sponsorship from Tildenet; Bents are holding a garden themed raffle; British Garden Centres, Hornsea store will be cycling 600 miles in-store; Chessington Garden Centre will be donating a percentage from the sale of drinks, pots and gardening sets; At Cleeve Nursery, Bristol - Alan Down’s private and stock plant collection of Hellebores will be on view.  Coletta and Tyson Garden Centre near Hull will be hosting a Dr Seuss themed fundraiser; Fairweather Garden Centre in Beaulieu has a raffle, helped by suppliers Woodlodge and Rockingham who have donated products, with a green cake sale raising further funds; Haskins Garden Centres has launched their spring raffle, drawing winners on the day, with additional fundraising coming from cake sales.  The raffles have been on display since the beginning of the week, across all stores, and is already generating a large amount of interest from customers according to the team; in Langlands Garden Centres in Whinmoor, Loxely and Shiptonthorpe – staff will be showing their support for Greenfingers by going green, selling green buns and holding a special plant pot tombola; at Longacres, Bagshot - Will and the team are planning three full days of fundraising to inspire their customers to get involved and part with their cash; Millbrook Garden Centre, Crowborough, has it’s big Spring Launch, 17th-19th March in aid of Greenfingers, and will involve several events; including a coffee & cake morning, an amazing animal world experience where children can handle hedgehogs and chameleons, planting demonstrations, raffles, and many more family activities; Monkton Elm is holding a raffle;  Old Railway Line, Brecon is holding a raffle and fundraising activities throughout the day, followed by its popular curry and quiz night, hosted by owner Mark Cleary; Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree, will once again be hosting a quiz night as well as collecting loose change and hosting other fundraising activities throughout the day; Paradise Park, Newhaven, will be selling specially decorated cakes and later in the day, holding a gardening themed quiz; Pondkeeper will be supplying various pond equipment items towards a special raffle being held at their shop in Billingham; Rolawn staff have pledged supplier support with a fairground themed event on Garden Re-Leaf Day to raise money for Greenfingers; Squire’s Garden Centre in Hersham will be delighting gardeners at their newly refurbished Café Bar.  Visitors will be able to enjoy a gardener’s afternoon tea hosted by Colin Squire as they are entertained with live music from guitarist John Canham, famous for playing with Seal and Tracy Ullman; Ross Garden Centre and Thetford Garden Centre are the latest to pledge Garden Re-Leaf day support, with fundraising activities to be announced soon; Whitehall Garden Centre is holding a raffle.

The HTA will be supporting Garden Re-Leaf Day at the APL Awards which takes place on 17^th March.

Plant-athons – 17 centres and counting

Hillview Garden Centres 11 garden stores running a Mega Plant-athon, with the aim of each planting 101 pots, that’s 1,111 in total, and then trying to see who can sell them in the shortest amount of time! 

Orchard Park, who held its first successful Garden Re-Leaf Day in 2016, is pushing itself further this year with the 24 hour Plant-athon challenge. 50% of Plant-athon sales will go to Greenfingers, and support for planting materials has been pledged by Scotts Miracle Gro, Woodlodge and Tom Chambers; Klondyke – Byrkley Park in Burton upon Trent are hosting their second 24 hour Plant-athon with Bob Hewitt and team taking on the challenge and getting customers involved, encouraging them to help design customised arrangements.

Klondyke - Houghton Hall in Carlisle will also be taking on the 24 hour Plant-athon challenge this Garden Re-Leaf Day and will aim to create hundreds of beautifully planted pots, some custom made to order for customers; Klondyke - Mayfield Hall in Kelso will join their sister stores, looking to plant continuously for 24 hours, encouraging customers to pick their brains for planting tips throughout and encouraging bespoke pot orders from customers; Alton Garden Centre in Wickford – Director, and Greenfingers Charity Ambassador, Andy Bunker is once again supporting the 24 Hour Plant-athon challenge when he’ll not only be planting pots, he’ll be inspiring a new generation to get planting as he welcomes children from Woodham Ley Primary School for a grand tour and garden workshop; as well as being major sponsors of the Garden Re-Leaf Day Walk, Scotsdales Garden Centre & Nursery will also be holding their very own Garden Re-Leaf 24 hour plant-athon (in April).

Floramedia have again donated specially designed plant labels for the Plant-athons.

The Garden Re-Leaf Day Walk

99 walkers from across the gardening industry and beyond have signed up for this year’s walk. As well as individuals, teams from Briers, Cadix, Gardman, GIMA, Deco-Pak, Kelkay, Westland, Crest Garden, SBM Life Science, Mr Fothergill's, Vitax, Simon Quinton Smith, GTN, Hornby Whitefoot, Frosts Garden Centre, Elho, Great British Cards, Glee, Kew Green Hotels, Scotsdales and their PR Agency, Scomac, Abacus Cards, Decco and Hillview have all registered.

The main sponsor this year is Scotsdales who, as well as providing refreshments for the walkers, a marquee and support staff, have been instrumental in securing support from their suppliers and local contacts.  Other sponsors include Hozelock, Kelkay and GTN. SBM Life Science have really pushed the boat out fielding walking teams, sponsoring medals, water stations and donating items for goody bags. They will also be holding a fundraiser at their office in Cambridge. They have embargoed staff holiday on 17^th March to ensure the entire work force can get involved. Outback have donated the barbecue and LOFA have kindly agreed to sponsor the refreshments at the finish point.  Town & Country’s Mark Butler will be helping on the day and Cadix and Quinton Edwards will be providing support vehicles.  Briers have sponsored two nights’ accommodation in Cambridge, helping to save travel and time costs.  

QVC

With thanks to Richard Jackson, QVC and it’s gardening suppliers will be supporting Garden Re-Leaf Day again this year with two dedicated shows on Saturday 18^th and Sunday 19^th March. 

http://www.gardenreleaf.co.uk/

Squire’s Garden Centre will be delighting gardeners at their newly refurbsished Café Bar.  Visitors will be able to enjoy a gardener’s afternoon tea hosted by Colin Squire as they are entertained with live music from guitarist John Canham, famous for playing for Seal & Tracy Ullman. [http://www.squiresgardencentres.co.uk/events/gardeners-delight-afternoon-tea-party-at-squires-hersham-only/]

Cake sales and quizzes are proving popular this year; Fairweather Garden Centre in Beaulieu will be holding a raffle, and green cake sale; Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree, Essex will once again be hosting a quiz night and, as well as collecting loose change, Paradise Park, Newhaven, will be selling specially decorated cakes and later in the day will be holding a gardening themed quiz.

Old Railway Line Garden Centre, Brecon, Powys will be supporting Garden Re-Leaf Day again this year too with a raffle and FUNdraising activities throughout the day followed by their popular curry and quiz night, hosted by centre owner, Mark Cleary.  All of this promises to draw the crowds at the start of the gardening season.   [http://www.oldrailwaylinegc.co.uk/Upcoming-Events/]

We look forward to hearing what Will and the team at Longacres, Bagshot have in store as they plan three full days of fundraising to inspire their customers to get involved and part with their cash to help Greenfingers Charity continue their work creating magical gardens for life limited children and their families.

Across all three of their sites, Greenfingers supporter, James Ducker and teams from Langlands Garden Centres will be joining in the FUNdraising too this year.

Rolawn staff have also pledged their support with a fairground themed event on Garden Re-Leaf Day to raise money for Greenfingers Charity. 

Once again QVC and it’s gardening experts will be supporting Garden Re-Leaf Day.  Hosted by Greenfingers Founder President and QVC presenter Richard Jackson, two special shows will raise vital funds for Greenfingers Charity on Saturday 18th March  and Sunday 19^th March.

Look out for a special plant-athon update next week as we share the latest news on those planting through the night to support Garden Re-Leaf Day.

Here's a selection of other events being planned for Garden Re-Leaf Day:



Alan Down, owner of Cleeve Nurseries, Bristol, will be opening the gates to his private collection of Hellebores to small groups of gardeners on Garden Re-Leaf Day to raise funds for Greenfingers Charity. As a regular broadcaster on Radio West and BBC Radio Bristol, plus writer of a regular page in the Western Daily Press, Alan is sure to be able to drum up enough interest to keep busy all day with small groups being shown round every 15 minutes. Thanks Alan - very much appreciated!

And at Millbrook Garden Centre, Gravesend, Kent are hosting a whole weekend of activities to raise funds for Greenfingers Charity. Their web site tells us some of their planned activities including a coffee and cake morning on Re-Leaf day and a bubbly evening reception plus interesting talk from horticulturist and plant hunter, Tom Hart-Dyke, described as the ‘new David Bellamy’.  Throughout Saturday staff will carry out planting demonstrations of containers and with a finishing raffle to end the 18th March.  Children’s face painting and craft activities will be available throughout Saturday and Sunday and visits to ‘Our Amazing Animal World’ will include a meet with Henry the hedgehog and Felipe the chameleon.

Tell us and Greenfingesr about your event and we will include it in these "Countdown to Garden Re-Leaf Day" newsletters and make sure it gets included on the Garden Re-Leaf Day website.  trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

DON’T FORGET TO TELL GREENFINGERS CHARITY YOUR PROMOTIONAL PLANS AND WE WILL HELP WITH YOUR PUBLICITY

To find out how you can get involved contact Greenfingers Charity by email: info@greenfingerscharity.org.uk or by calling the Fundraising Team on 01494 674749 

It’s just two days until the gardening industry bursts into combined promotional activity by celebrating Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day on Friday 17th March 2017.

The event was created to start the gardening season with a huge bang so that garden centres, growers, suppliers and trade associations could all benefit from the combined publicity efforts and to benefit our favourite gardening charity.

In 2016 Greenfingers Charity benefited by more than £140,000 - the most successful Garden Re-Leaf Day ever. This year Garden Re-Leaf is set to break that record again thanks to a great variety of FUNdraising ideas.

There are lots of ways to get involved so take a read through the stories in this e-mail newsletter to whet your appetite.

The sixth annual Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day take place nationally on the 17 March, with many events continuing throughout the weekend. The 24hr Plant-athon, which was a runaway success last year, is being rolled out to more garden centres, and the Garden Re-Leaf Walk boasts a huge uptake in registrations and aims to be both more inclusive and challenging.

Top 10 fundraising ideas

Over the past six years, a host of garden centre fundraising ideas has been launched, tried and tested.  Here are the top 10, with tips on how to make them a success in your garden centre…

24 hr Plant-athon

Alton Garden Centre, Blue Diamond, Hillview, Klondyke, and Hillier have already committed to the event for a second year running.  Orchard Park in Dorset is the latest to sign up, with more expected to follow between now and the 17 March.  But time is running out! If your garden centre is looking to register for Garden Re-Leaf Day, contact Linda at Greenfingers as soon as possible, via linda@greenfingerscharity.org.uk or by calling the Greenfingers office on 01494 674749.

General Knowledge Quiz

Independent garden centres with a loyal local following, such as Perrywood in Essex, have turned this into an annual evening long event, providing food and allowing participants to bring a bottle. The questions don’t have to be about gardening, and as it’s St Patrick’s Day you might want to make that your theme!  Drinking responsibly of course…!

Raffle

It’s a popular choice for a reason and that is that it raises a great deal of money, and can be done in conjunction with suppliers.  Last year,Monkton Elm in Taunton (pictured, below) experienced an increase in footfall and sales as a direct result of their raffle.  Shoppers bought tickets, and the winners returned to collect their prizes – resulting in further money spent in the café, and on plants and other items on the way out.

Bake or book sale

If you’ve got a café and a farm shop this is ideal – but even without either you can still put on a bake sale.  Or a book sale.  Or a mixture of the two! The more creative the better. Fairweather’s in Hampshire are keeping it on-brand - selling special green Garden Re-Leaf cakes throughout the weekend.

Sponsored cycle

Whether your staff members are fitness freaks or salad dodgers – a sponsored cycle is the perfect excuse for exercise!  You can set yourselves a challenge that links in with a theme – for example, Coolings cycled 220 miles to Buckingham palace last year to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday. A great way to entertain and engage with your customers, who can sponsor and donate as they shop.

Create a display from trade promotions

Suppliers such as Gardman sold a range of products last year, with a Greenfingers Charity Tree Mat and Cole & Bright Solar Hanging Jars raising 50p from each item sold, as well as 20p from each Hanging Basket Coco Liner. This year, Deco-Pak has pledged to donate 5p from each small bag of their new play sand on orders placed in March.

Open garden

Alan Down at Cleeve Nurseries is opening up his private Hellebore collection (click here) – why not organise something similar with a local garden writer or private landowner?

Wishing Tree

The premise is as simple as it is effective - place a potted tree within the main sales area, accessible enough so that children and adults can easily and safely add a note – or write a wish on the back of a star in the case of Whitehall’s in Bristol.  Customers will enjoy being able to express their wishes and will eagerly donate for the privilege.

Coffee mornings/afternoon tea

Cafés are usually busy whatever the weather, so holding a coffee morning can be a real winner, and works well in tandem with bake sales.   Last year Barton Grange in Preston sold afternoon cream teas, with £5 donated for each one sold.  This year Squire’s at Hensham are including an afternoon tea party as part of their weekend-long spring launch in aid of Greenfingers.

#Gluvies

More for awareness than fundraising – or can it be both?  Once you’ve taken a picture or a selfie of your team – or with your customers – you can post to Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #gluvies and tagging @GardenReLeaf - or post galleries on Facebook tagging participants to spread the word.  But also the gloves themselves (Briers’ Greenfingers All Seasons Gardener gloves) can be sold in the same way as the famous red noses to raise funds; 35p from each (medium or large) pair is donated to the charity by Briers – who now also have a Greenfingers kids’ gardening kit to further raise funds. Last year the #gluvies hashtag reached 20,000 people on Twitter, but this year we’re aiming for twice that amount!

Last year, Greenfingers launched its ‘A Million Moments Appeal’, aiming to raise £1 million, over three years.  With the help of events such as Garden Re-Leaf Day, the charity is aiming to provide at least 5,000 children and their families that rely on hospices to enjoy spending precious time together outdoors.

• Garden Products - up 10%
• Veg-2-Gro - up 1%
• Growing Media - up 11%
• All Items Index - down 17%

After helping with support duties last year, GTN's Trevor and Karen Pfeiffer vowed to do The Great Garden Re-Leaf Day walk in full in 2017, so Labradoodles Olly & Floyd thought they’d better join in to pull them towards the finish as the miles clock up and their feet and legs are hurting.

Olly & Floyd are brother Labradoodles who love walking and getting dirty so they are really looking forward to the 20 mile walk from Scotsdales Garden Centre in Horningsea to Scotsdales Garden centre in Shelford Cambridge.

It’s a shame they won’t be able to walk through Jesus College garden or The Cambridge Botanic Gardens, but there is a special route around the outside of the gardens that Karen and Trevor can run around the to make sure we don’t lose any time.

We’re looking forward to meeting all the fellow walkers – both 2 legged and 4, and making lots of friends as we walk through Cambridge on March 17th.

Please sponsor us, or Trevor and Karen if you must, using our Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/OllyandFloyd. 

We really do want to raise as much money as possible to help create another Greenfingers garden at a children’s hospice.  Then we can go and visit that too and meet some of the wonderful children, parents and carers who gain so much benefit from spending time outside in a Greenfingers garden, which has been magically designed and created to help them.

Woof woof.

Olly and Floyd

Nursery Crop Protection / Spraying Supervisor (ref:DS9132)

• PA1 and PA6a
• Proven and extensive plant protection application knowledge and experience.
• Practical horticultural knowledge and experience.
• High level of pest and disease identification expertise required.

To apply for this role click here

Technical Production Manager (ref:DS8828)

Location:

• Responsible for the production of a deliverable weekly prioritized crop job list. - Pruning, tying etc.
• Responsible and accountable for the production of an effective and deliverable biological control program for P&D.
• Responsible and accountable for the production and delivery of an effective integrated program to effectively control and manage the pest, disease and weed found on the nursery.
• Accountable for ensuring that all crops grown on the nursery are able to achieve their optimum by the effective use of growing media, nutritional and environmental management.
• Accountable for the production of and delivery of growing facility maintenance and development plans and schedules.
• Accountable for the transparent purchasing of plant material to make sure that the production plan and budget are met. Ensuring that Plant Purchasing meets company policies and that product delivered meets published quality standards.
• Maintain the Plants Tree and Passfields databases. Tree records all the cultural activities done to a plant during the season, plus all relevant spray information. Passfields stores all the crop plans and potting information and needs to be continuously updated.
• Accountable for production and delivery of the nursery yearly and long term crop production plan.
• Accountable and responsible for NPD.
• Accountable for the maintenance and development of systems and keeping of appropriate records to maintain company accreditations and policies.
• Accountable and responsible for the management of pesticide product information sheets and for compliance with all other COSHH requirements.
• Accountable for the production and delivery of budgets for labour, pots, trays and compost and all other consumable products.
• To proactively participate and engage in the daily review of productivity on the nursery.
• Accountable for the delivery of company KPI's in relation to crop quality, grade out, timing, NPD and production profitability.
• Accountable and responsible for Health & Safety on both sites.

To apply for this role click here

Department Head | Gardening Sundries (ref:DS9120)

Location: West Sussex
Salary: Excellent
Date: 24 Feb
Job Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent

Our client is one of the UK's largest Garden Centre Groups, with 19 centres throughout the UK. They hold a profitable, prominent position within the garden centre industry priding themselves on an inspirational approach to retailing which gives them a creative point of difference in the market. Their centres and restaurants offer style and innovation in an aspirational environment which encourages loyalty and satisfaction from customers.

This West Sussex based centre started life over 30 years ago. Boasting a multi-award winning plant area and a wide range of gardening products, fertilisers, tools, seeds and chemicals, it has become one of the largest, most successful garden centres in the South of England.

The centre is due for a major redevelopment shortly which will see it expand significantly and will include a fully refurbished garden sundries department so there has never been a better time to join this growing team!

As a Department Head, you will be responsible for running the department and managing a team, and experience of this within a retail environment is essential. You can make a real difference from day one as you will be involved in driving sales, creating stunning and inspirational visual displays, managing stock levels, and motivating and developing your team.

You will gain a real sense of ownership over your department as you drive sales and profitability by maximising space productivity, replenishment, and merchandising. The customer is the focus of everything our client does, so you will ensure that they always receive an exceptional level of service.

To be the ideal candidate you will have experience of working in a fast-paced retail environment at a management or supervisory level. You will be a great communicator with an ability to inspire your team. You will have a great eye for detail with a creative edge to ensure high retail standards are consistently maintained in terms of product placement and presentation.

As well as a rewarding career with potential for career development, you can expect a competitive salary, attractive staff discount and paid holidays.

If this sounds like you then we would love to hear from you.

To apply for this role click here

• Proven sales experience in the retail or wholesale horticultural trade.
• Sound horticultural plant knowledge preferably with qualifications up to NVQ Level 2.
• Highly motivated with a strong work ethic.
• Numeracy and accuracy along with strong verbal and written communication skills is paramount.

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2014 as well as 2015 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £195.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most up-to-date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.