Garden centres taking part in Garden Re-Leaf Day 2014 – the garden industry’s annual, season-starting charity fund-raising day – can win a ‘money-can’t buy’, footfall-boosting visit to their garden centre by popular ITV gardener David Domoney on Sunday 16th March 2014 (the Sunday immediately after Garden Re-Leaf Day).
David is offering a series of 30-minute expert talks on that date to the garden centre that wins Garden Re-Leaf Day’s new, free to enter ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition – which has a closing date of Friday 7th February 2014.
Any garden retailer registering their participation in Garden Re-Leaf Day by 7th February is eligible to enter. To register, email info@gardenreleaf.co.uk with your garden centre details, for inclusion in Garden Re-Leaf Day and on the website. Then use the same email address by 7th February to enter the ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition. Including your full address and contact details, simply say, in 200 words or less, how you would make the most of David’s visit on 16th March as part of Garden Re-Leaf Day. The best idea wins him!
The winning entry will then be selected and notified by 12th February; allowing time to publicise David’s visit to customers. The winning garden centre can also liaise with David to choose the topic of the talk. Organisers request that the winning retailer makes David’s special appearance a ticketed event, with proceeds going towards Garden Re-Leaf Day’s nominated charity for 2014, the Greenfingers ‘Rosy Cheeks’ appeal – the nationwide charity dedicated to building gardens in children’s hospices around the UK.
Garden Re-Leaf Day takes place on Friday 14th March 2014 and across the weekend, raising money for charity whilst launching the garden retailing season. Hundreds of retailers nationwide are expected to run a range of fund-raisers and customer activities as part of the event. All retailers wishing to participate need to register with organisers as soon as possible to ensure inclusion. Many garden industry suppliers will also be offering special Garden Re-Leaf Day product and plant promotions to help retailers raise further funds through sales. Since 2012 Garden Re-Leaf Day participants have raised more than £116,000 for the cause; enabling several life-enhancing hospice gardens to be created.
Caroline Owen, Managing Director of Scotsdales Garden Centre, has first-hand experience of how a pro bono on-site visit from David Domoney can benefit business. She confirmed: “When David visited Scotsdales during a previous Garden Re-Leaf Day, our customers absolutely loved it. He is a great guy, so enthusiastic about gardening, higher profile than ever and incredibly popular. The winning garden centre should get a lot of customer interest.”
Carol Paris, HTA Chief Executive, agreed. “I think it’s fabulous that David has offered his time to a retailer as part of Garden Re-Leaf,” she said. “When I was at The Garden & Leisure Group, David came to give a talk at one of our centres for Garden Re-Leaf that was extremely well received, drove a lot of footfall and was good for business. His enthusiasm about gardening really comes across, and we had some great feedback from the day.”
Expert ITV gardener David is currently on our screens co-presenting ITV’s prime time gardening show, Love Your Garden, and is one of the most decorated garden designers in the UK having won 27 Royal Horticultural Society medals. He is an active supporter of Garden Re-Leaf Day, and is launching his second Cultivation Street campaign – a national, joint initiative with the HTA aiming to boost communities by transforming front gardens and community gardens – during Garden Re-Leaf weekend.
Garden Re-Leaf Day’s founder and Hillview Garden Centre CEO Boyd Douglas-Daviesadded:“We would like to say a huge thank you to David for donating his time for free for this fantastic new competition. We are looking forward to receiving lots of entries and hope the winning retailer has a really successful, well-attended day. We’re also reminding all garden retailers to register their participation in Garden Re-Leaf Day now, and start planning their activities. It’s the epitome of a fun, fund-raising day, that also delivers a real retail benefit.”
Garden Re-Leaf Day 2014 looks set to be the biggest so far, with many initiatives in the pipeline. Details will be highlighted in the media and on the www.gardenreleaf.co.uk website in the coming weeks.
