Seventeen past chairmen of the GCA turned out for the association’s 50^th anniversary dinner at the Grand Hotel, Brighton last night.

One of them, Warren Haskins (1982-3) paid tribute to their contributions to the GCA’s development during the past half century. For 40 of those years, he said, the GCA had been in a “rather nasty conflict” with the HTA during which the two associations had not got on all that well before patching up their differences in the past two years. “That is now good for all of us,” he said.

The HTA now hosts the GCA’s headquarters at Theale.

The other 16 past chairmen present were:

Jeffrey Bernhard (1964)

Waynman Strike (1973, Strikes Garden Centres)

Richard Evans (1978, Ruxley Manor GC)

F.A.B. Newenham (1979, Millets Farm GC)

Roger Harvey (1988, Roger Harvey Garden World)

Kenn Lloyd (1992-3, Cadbury GC)

Chris Roberts (1994, Van Hage Garden Co)

Martin Stewart (1995 and 2010)

Beryl Stafford (1991, All in One GC)

Guy Topping (2000-01, Barton Grange Garden Centres)

Sue Allen (2002-3, Millbrook Garden Co)

Steve Myatt (2004-5, Warbreck GC)

David Danning (2006-07, Trelawney Garden Leisure)

Martin Davies (2008-9, Raglan GC)

Dennis Espley (2011, Squires Garden Centres)

William Armitage (2014-15, Armitages Garden Centres)