Raoul Curtis-Machin, Head of Horticulture at the HTA, has taken over the chairmanship of the GROW Careers initiative from Leigh Morris who has held the post for eight years.

The official handover took place on 24 September at the Young Hort Conference at Battersea Park.

Outgoing chair of GROW, Leigh Morris said: "The vision of the Grow Careers initiative when it was established in 2006 was to create an industry wide movement to promote horticulture and the many varied careers within it.

"This could truly only ever be achieved by the industry working together and I'm delighted that during my almost eight years as the Chair of Grow Careers, I have seen an increase in support for the initiative and a great expansion in the service it provides through schools packs, Grow Careers days around the UK & Ireland, traffic to the web portal, use of social media and now adoption of Grow Careers by the Chartered Institute of Horticulture.

“We are now entering the next exciting phase, with the dynamic #YoungHort initiative and the industry-wide Horticulture Matters Campaign again raising the profile of horticulture. Horticulture is giving me a fantastic career and life and my personal ambition when taking on the role as Chair of Grow careers, was to inspire the next generation and help many more enjoy life. I take great pleasure in seeing this go forward and am extremely content in handing over the role of Chair to Raoul Curtis-Machin, who I know will take the initiative to the next level and beyond."

The GROW Careers initiative is the umbrella body for promoting careers in the industry and is backed by many horticultural organisations.

For more information visit www.growcareers.info