In This Issue
£9,600 raised as Pansies beat Cabbages in 4th Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup
Braving the bitterly cold wind on Blackpool's North Promenadeture
Pansies win the second event - Electricity - as the sparks fly inside the Hilton Hotel's Trafalgar Suite
Cabbages take the honours in table tennis and phone charades
Pansies start fight back with epic table football victory
Martin Cowell gets 'mummyfied' as Pansies pull back to level pegging
And so it came down to the final event... a boat race drinking contest
An evening of fish-and-chips, bingo, music and dancing
Out-going GCA chairman takes up new role at Trelawney Garden Leisure
Jude Law, David Tennant and other stars present the Garden Re-Leaf Day quiz for 2014
More pictures of Garden Centre Christmas displays than have ever been published before
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£9,600 raised as Pansies beat Cabbages in 4th Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup
Greenfingers Challenge 2014 before and after 32.jpg

A staggering £9,600 was raised on the eve of the Garden Centre Association Winter Conference at Blackpool when a team of garden centres (Pansies) beat a side made up of suppliers (Cabbages) in the 4th Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup.

The event, made up of a series of fun events followed by fish-and-chips and bingo, was the curtain-raiser for the two-day conference, with all the proceeds going the industry's charity, Greenfingers...

See pictures
Greenfingers Challenge 2014 before and after 32.jpg

A staggering £9,600 was raised on the eve of the Garden Centre Association Winter Conference at Blackpool when a team of garden centres (Pansies) beat a side made up of suppliers (Cabbages) in the 4th Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup.

The event, made up of a series of fun events followed by fish-and-chips and bingo, was the curtain-raiser for the two-day conference, with all the proceeds going the industry's charity, Greenfingers.

And it was the Pansies team captained by Guy Topping, from Barton Grange Garden Centre, which snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, winning by 20 points to 15, after being 15-5 behind at one stage and needing to win all of the final three games (5 points was awarded for each event victory).

"We were staring defeat in the face but my team reacted in the best possible way by refusing to give up," said Guy, whose team retained the trophy after last year's win. "I'm very proud of the team because everyone contributed to this victory."

Defeated Cabbages captain Danny Adamson, from Sinclairs, who helped to organise the events with Guy, said: "I'm disappointed with result, particularly as we were so far in front but we've had a great day.

"We've received the best support ever from sponsorship and also people turning up to take part. It has been brilliant."

It had been hoped to hold the Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup on Blackpool beach opposite the Hilton Hotel, where the GCA conference is taking place but a combination of high tides and bad weather forced the activities in doors.

The first event - a relay race - did take place outside as competitors braced the biting wind to run up and down the promenade.

The proceeds from the day were handed over by Danny and Guy to Deborah Skillicorn, charity director of Greenfingers, who said: "It has been a fantastic day. The amount of money from this one event is outstanding, simply incredible. 

"The money will be used to help build two gardens in 2014 at children's hospices in Essex and Yorkshire. I would like to personally thank the organisers, the sponsors and everyone for taking part."
Braving the bitterly cold wind on Blackpool's North Promenadeture


The first event – the Outdoor Adventure sponsored by the GCA – took place in bitterly cold conditions on Blackpool's North Promenade...

See pictures


The first event – the Outdoor Adventure sponsored by the GCA – took place in bitterly cold conditions on Blackpool's North Promenade.

Braving the weather was a challenge in itself as competitors lined up in T-shirts imprinted with bikinis but then the two teams faced each other in a relay race along the sea front.

In a close encounter, ther Cabbages team of suplliers, just manged to pip the Pansies garden centre team to pick up the first points of the day.
Pansies win the second event - Electricity - as the sparks fly inside the Hilton Hotel's Trafalgar Suite


The Pansies hit back straight away with victory in the second event as the competition moved back inside the Hilton Hotel...

See pictures


The Pansies hit back straight away with victory in the second event as the competition moved back inside the Hilton Hotel.

The event called Electricty, and sponsored by Barton Grange and Woodbridge, is best described as passing a message along the line before the final member of the team makes a grab for a ping-pong ball. Confused? Well, you had to be there to understand the mechanics of the game.

Safe to say the Pansies were more adept at understanding the rules of engagement and quicker at snatching the ping-pong ball from their rivals.

Five points to Pansies and the match was now all square.
Cabbages take the honours in table tennis and phone charades


The Cabbages managed to put a 10-point (two events) cushion between themselves and the Pansies after winning the next two events – the table tennis and charades...

See pictures
The Cabbages managed to put a 10-point (two events) cushion between themselves and the Pansies after winning the next two events – the table tennis and charades.



The table tennis, sponsored by Castle Gardens and Taylor's, involved team members hitting a shot before passing the bat to the next person in line. The Cabbages soon got into the swing of things and were quite ruthless in their approach, quickly building up a lead in each set before fianlly converting a match point.



The Cabbages were also more adept than the Pansies in a game of charades, sponsored by Millbrook and Briers, and victory seemed to be giving them a momentum in the overall race for the Greenfingers Challenge Cup.
Pansies start fight back with epic table football victory


The Pansies were now faced with the prospect of having to win all of the final three events to retain their title, and their comback started in the table football...

See pictures


The Pansies were now faced with the prospect of having to win all of the final three events to retain their title, and their comback started in the table football.

The event was sponsored by Poplars and Town & Country, and was played as a best-of-three contest. Pansies won the first match 10-9, Cabbages responded with a 10-6 win before the garden centre team clinched the decider 10-7.
Martin Cowell gets 'mummyfied' as Pansies pull back to level pegging
Martin Cowell and Sam Jones had the honour of being 'mummyfied' in toilet paper as the Pansies team drew level in the penultimate game of the Greenfingers Challenge Cup...
See pictures
Martin Cowell and Sam Jones had the honour of being 'mummyfied' in toilet paper as the Pansies team drew level in the penultimate game of the Greenfingers Challenge Cup.



Each team had to produce a mummy by wrapping up a person in the toilet paper – Martin Cowell for Pansies and Sam Jones, of Sinclairs, for Cabbages. It was a close run thing but the judges gave the Pansies team victory by a whisker.

The event called Mummy was sponsored by Raglan and Woodlodge.
And so it came down to the final event... a boat race drinking contest


The ale drinkers of the Pansies showed the Cabbages how to down a pint with captain Guy Topping sinking the final glass to clinch overall victory for his team...

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The ale drinkers of the Pansies showed the Cabbages how to down a pint with captain Guy Topping sinking the final glass to clinch overall victory for his team.

Yes the final competition called Boat Race and sponsored by Hozelock and Sinclair, was a drinking contest where selected team members took it in turns to drink a pint of beer in the fastest time possible.

In essence, it was a no contest as the drinkers from Pansies showed how to down a pint in one go. For some on the Pansies team it took literally a few seconds.
An evening of fish-and-chips, bingo, music and dancing


The 4th Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup was followed by an evening of fish-and-chips, bingo and finally music and dancing in Blackpool's Hilton Hotel...

See pictures


The 4th Annual Greenfingers Challenge Cup was followed by an evening of fish-and-chips, bingo and finally music and dancing in Blackpool's Hilton Hotel.

Competing in the seven events which made up the Greenfingers Challenge Cup, had left the challengers exhausted and hungry, so a meal of fish-and-chips was in order.

Once everyone had got their energy levels back to normal, a sedate game or two of bingo helped to raise spirits as well as boost the money raised for Greenfingers.

With prizes ranging from saucy T-shirts to a hamper, everyone enjoyed the fun before the lights were turned down low for dancing for those who still had enough energy.
 
Out-going GCA chairman takes up new role at Trelawney Garden Leisure
Peter Burks, who is handing over the GCA chairman's role to Will Armitage at the winter conference in Blackpool, has been appointed as the General Manager for Trelawney Garden Leisure in the West Country...

Peter Burks, who is handing over the GCA chairman's role to Will Armitage at the winter conference in Blackpool, has been appointed as the General Manager for Trelawney Garden Leisure in the West Country... 

The ex-Garden Centre Group Regional Manager  takes on the role to help give support to the award-winning garden centre chain’s owners, David Danning and David Symons.

Director David Danning said: “We’re delighted to welcome Peter on board. He has a wealth of industry experience and we’re really looking forward to working with him.

“He will oversee the running of Trelawney@Wadebridge in Cornwall and Trelawney@Ashford in North Devon, while David and I focus on building and launching what will become our new centre at Probus in Cornwall.”

Peter has run garden centres at directorial and managerial level for more than 30 years and launched and ran the multi award-winning Sanders Garden World in Somerset for more than 10 years.

The garden centre was named as ‘Garden Centre of Year’ for several consecutive years during this period.

He has a degree in horticulture from the University of Bath and comes from a well-known family of garden centre owners and horticulturalists.

Peter said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for me to get back to my Westcountry roots and to be able to do the job I love.”

 
Jude Law, David Tennant and other stars present the Garden Re-Leaf Day quiz for 2014
Hollywood star Jude Law and Dr Who actor David Tennant (pictured) have joined the growing list of household-name celebrities to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz, by recording a round of questions. The brain-teasing audio quiz is available as a customer event opportunity to any garden centre taking part in the annual fund-raising day in March...

Hollywood star Jude Law and Dr Who actor David Tennant have joined the growing list of household-name celebrities to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz, by recording a round of questions.  The brain-teasing audio quiz is available as a customer event opportunity to any garden centre taking part in the annual fund-raising day in March.

The two stars join Skyfall’s ‘Miss Moneypenny’, actress Naomie Harris – currently on cinema screens as Winnie Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom – in presenting a section of the questions.  EastEnders cast members Danny Dyer (new Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter) and Patsy Palmer (fiery market trader Bianca Butcher) have also lent their familiar voices to the quiz, in addition to a round recorded by impressionist Alistair McGowan – in the vocal style of celebrities John Humphrys, David Mitchell, Matt Baker, Dara Ó Briain and Stephen Fry.



David Tennant, Naomie Harris and Alistair McGowan have agreed to support Garden Re-Leaf Day’s popular Gardening Quiz.

The quiz – which includes both general knowledge and gardening rounds – can be ordered by all retailers, suppliers and other organisations participating in Garden Re-Leaf Day; with funds raised going towards its chosen charity, Greenfingers. The production of the quiz and accompanying CDs are being provided by Garden Radio, as part of its support for Garden Re-Leaf Day.

The quiz is also a ready-made opportunity to boost customer footfall, as Garden Re-Leaf Day’s founder and Hillview Garden Centre CEO Boyd Douglas-Davies explains: “We’re enormously grateful that so many mainstream stars have supported this year’s Garden Re-Leaf Day quiz – it will be more popular than ever!  It’s a simple way for retailers both to take part in Garden Re-Leaf, and attract scores of customers in-store at the start of the spring gardening season.  You can make the event even more effective by running other sales promotions, refreshments and fund-raisers alongside. The organiser’s pack costs just £100 and is available by calling 01993 871456 or emailing pat@gca.org.uk

Garden centres and suppliers across the UK are expected to take part in the third annual Garden Re-Leaf Day, held on Friday 14 March 2014 and across the weekend. Participants – who can run any number of nationally-coordinated or local fund-raising initiatives – are being urged to register their involvement as soon as possible by emailing the organising team at info@gardenreleaf.co.uk with an overview of your planned activities.  Your location and events will then be added to the Garden Re-Leaf Day website: www.gardenreleaf.co.uk.

As in its first two years, Garden Re-Leaf Day’s nominated charity in 2014 is Greenfingers; the nationwide charity dedicated to building gardens in children’s hospices around the UK. 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.    

In December it was announced that garden centres taking part in Garden Re-Leaf Day can also win a ‘money-can’t buy’, footfall-boosting visit to their garden centre by popular ITV gardener David Domoney on Sunday 16 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 7 February 2014.

Any garden retailer registering their participation in Garden Re-Leaf Day by 7 February is eligible to enter. To register for Garden Re-Leaf Day and enter the ‘Gardening Date with David’ competition, email info@gardenreleaf.co.uk by 7 February with your garden centre details, also stating in 200 words or less, how you would make the most of David’s visit on 16 March as part of Garden Re-Leaf Day.  The best idea wins him.

TV presenter and gardening journalist Richard Jackson, an active supporter of both Greenfingers and Garden Re-Leaf Day, confirmed: “The quiz and David Domoney competition are both fantastic, easy ways of taking part in Garden Re-Leaf Day this year; benefiting both your business and the Greenfingers charity. Everyone wins, so let’s make this a record-breaking year!”

More pictures of Garden Centre Christmas displays than have ever been published before
The GTN team and Greatest Awards Experts have already been out and about visiting garden centres throughout the country and have seen some brilliant Christmas displays. Here's a selection of the 2013 displays that are selling through now.  Just click on the garden centre name to take you to their picture gallery:

Arcadia
Armitages Pennine
Barton Grange 
Berwick 
Baytree
Brechin Castle 
Brookside 
Caerphilly
Coletta & Tyson
Dobbies Inverness
Dobbies Kings Lynn
Dunbar 
Eastfield
Garden Pride
Glendoick
Hetland
Highfield Garden World
Houghton Hall
Huntingdon Garden & Leisure
Langlands Leeds
Mains of Drum
Notcutts Tunbridge Wells
Old Railway Line
Raemoir
Ruxley Manor
Simpsons
Strikes Stokesley
Swanland
Torwood 
Trowell
Van Hage Peterborough
Walkers Nurseries 
Webbs of Wychbold

 

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