In This Issue
With eight weeks to go until Glee 2021, show organisers unveil a new date for next year’s event
Who have been the best buyers of the past eighteen months?
New Products, Glee Style
Sustainable, biodiverse and wildlife-friendly... that's Honeyfield’s Wild Bird
The Benefits of Automatic Watering
Blue Diamond trials Dansand NO GROW, the joint filling sand with natural weed inhibitors
Harry Cane 9 fundraising promotion at Lakeside Plant Centre
First week of July 24% up on 9-year average
GIMA judging complete – find out who wins on Nov 11
Sales Manager/Sales Agent to cover Southern Region of England
Environment Minister visits Dobbies Woodcote Green
Ever Given container ship leaves the Suez Canal 106 days late
Long fruitful summer for plant sales
Garden centre group supports local travel agency
First London little dobbies opens
Focus on reducing contamination in food and garden waste
New Products at SOLEX On-Line 2021 - SOLEX SUN's A-L guide
New Products at SOLEX On-Line 2021 - SOLEX SUN's M-Z guide
Video, video. Watch the SOLEX SUN video showreel from SOLEX On-Line 2021
Smart welcomes Early Birds to 2022 Showrooms
Seiont Nurseries partners with Joy of Plants
Zest to sponsor hot-air balloon
Cobra gives back to community by donating lawncare kit
Children call on nation to help ‘Save our Planet’
Cancer Research UK Legacy Garden wins Best in Show
Nicholas Marshall interview live on-line now
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Obituary: Colin Read, co-founder of Podington Garden Centre
New manager at Squire's Garden Centre in Chertsey
Ants, bees and slugs
Community gardeners set to join hall of heroes
Record demand for growing media
RECOUP Continue to crusade to improve plastics packaging recycling
Casual Dining reveals world-class line-up
Enter the prestigious Grower of the Year Awards
Wild Bird Care gains energy
Buckingham Palace Garden opens to visitors
The best of last week's
June sets new records, warm feelings for the future
Local garden centre decorates BBC set
YouGarden completes acquisition of Gardening Direct
Plant health agreement could turn £multi-billion horticulture industry into Brexit success story, claims HTA
The Petface Emporium – Showrooms Reinvented!
New garden centre for well-known Norwegian Hageland
Skydive to help Lily's bucket list dreams come true
Barton Grange Christmas 2020 - Exclusive GTN Xtra Photo Tour
Perrywood at Christmas 2020 - with correct photo gallery now...
Squires Badshot Lea - Christmas 2020
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
Pet trade seeks export solution
Raw pet food firm recalls products over salmonella fears
Fish4Dogs launches a lighter choice
Situations Vacant
Sales Manager/Sales Agent to cover Southern Region of England
On target earnings Circa £45K (£25K basic salary)
 
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Obituary: Colin Read, co-founder of Podington Garden Centre
 

It is with great sadness that Norma Read, co-founder of Podington Garden Centre, near Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, announces the death of her husband Colin, on 16th June, aged 85. 

 

Colin and Norma established Podington Nurseries in 1971 initially as vegetable-produce growers selling to the wholesale market chains along with a range of own-propagated and traded hedge-plants , the latter being sold via small  newspaper advertisements, with hardwood garden plant propagation/potted-from-liners and bedding plant production soon following.  

 

Colin initially helped Norma develop the nursery, whilst also continuing his role as a marketing director for a computer data services company, until leaving that role in what was then a huge leap of faith to join Norma full time during 1976, and successfully applying that year for full planning permission for Podington to become a garden centre…and so Colin and Norma began to convert what was the retail nursery into a fully-fledged garden centre without really knowing, according to Colin, what exactly a “garden centre” actually was.

 

They soon, however, as is so often the way when creating a business from scratch , through sheer endeavour and hard work, found out. As the nursery-growing unit contracted, traded plants grew along with the rebuild and successive expansions of the indoor-shop areas as the business started to rapidly grow, aided by the induction of Colin and Norma’s sons, Philip and Jonathan, into the company. 

 

Joining Podington into the Garden Centre Association (and the company trading name at that point becoming ‘Podington Garden Centre’) was probably, for both Colin and Norma, the most influential move from which they drew inspiration for the expansion of the centre. That, and perhaps Colin’s “battle cry” for excellence within the garden centre: “Good enough isn’t!” 

 

One of the greatest legacies Colin bestowed on Podington Garden Centre as a very successful independent business was that of his insistence of heavily investing in carefully-selected, customer-facing staff numbers of both motivated and , perhaps above all, inspired staff whom were trained over a considerable period to not only place customers at the front of any priority list, but to make certain each customer went away with at least one piece of very useful, and above all , accurate information , and for customers to realise this was enthusiastically delivered. This, in his view, both supported returning custom without excessive advertisements/promotions, and maintained margins most effectively. 

 

Colin and Norma became regular attendees of garden centre association events and, during the late 90’s and early 00’s, also attended various trips whilst assisting on the UK committee for  International GCA trips  - the most notable of which was one USA garden centre tour, in August 2001 when during a extremely special visit to the inside of the White House, Washington DC, Colin was the only garden centre tour visitor to get ‘caught short’ within  what was an extremely tight schedule and was duly kept under tightest constant-surveillance by two heavily-armed guards without a single second of privacy given. 

 

Right at the end of Colin’s involvement with Podington, he was especially proud to receive, along with Philip and Jonathan, the GCA Best Overall award in the North Thames group for 2014. (Colin pictured bottom centre) 

 

Colin’s retirement years were unfortunately later encumbered with the gradual onset of Parkinson’s disease, and the Read family have asked for any donations to be made to Parkinson’s UK instead of flowers at the service on the 10thJuly , 11.00AM  at the Nene Valley Crematorium, Wellingborough.

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