In This Issue
Blisters, tomatoes, over 100 walkers and runners raise over £22k on Garden Re-Leaf Day
Mr Fothergill's go green for Garden Re-Leaf Day
How was Garden Re-Leaf Day for you?
Woodstock Chimes offer quality and great value
Evergreen Enterprises comes to the UK!
Daffs out, grass cut, footfall up
Carol Paris is leaving the HTA
Pet companies get excited about PATS Sandown
Koi carp worth £7,725 stolen from Squire's
New Year's Honour for RHS Director General
Graduate Management Trainee Programme relaunched
Host a 'feel good festival' for Parkinson's UK this summer
Head of Catering (Warwickshire)
Amenity Account Manager South (Hertfordshire)
Nursery Crop Protection / Spraying Supervisor (West Sussex)
Nursery Wholesale Sales Coordinator (Hertfordshire)
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Gardening activity springs into life
Veg-2-Gro plant sales up by 78%
Record growing media sales for week 10
Primula at No 1 for the 10th week
Farplants' Added Value Division under new leadership
Stewart Garden Schools Campaign grows by 75% as 174 schools sign up
Pictures from the Greatest Christmas Gold-winning teams
Writtle University College prepares for Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
HTA Catering Conference is a must-attend event
Matthew Algie appointed official UK distributor of Synesso
Situations Vacant
Head of Catering (Warwickshire)
Salary: Excellent
 
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Amenity Account Manager South (Hertfordshire)
Salary: Excellent package
 
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Nursery Crop Protection / Spraying Supervisor (West Sussex)
Salary: Circa £19,000
 
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Nursery Wholesale Sales Coordinator (Hertfordshire)
Salary: £28,000 - £30,000
 
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Blisters, tomatoes, over 100 walkers and runners raise over £22k on Garden Re-Leaf Day

A fantastic day of fundraising and walking across the fens and through the iconic city of Cambridge saw 105 walkers and runners, some in fancy dress, raise a record breaking £22.5k on Garden Re-Leaf Day 2017.

Sponsored by Scotsdales, staff at their Horningsea garden centre worked hard to ensure the event started with a hoot and a cheer creating specially designed banners and balloon displays all  of which added to a great atmosphere.  Cutting the ribbon to start the walk, Garden Re-Leaf Day founder and Greenfingers Trustee Boyd Douglas Davies, along with Glee's Matthew Mein who masterminded the first Garden Re-Leaf Day Walk in 2015, then headed off to complete the 20 mile route.

With support along the route from vehicles sponsored by Cadix Ltd, Quinton Edwards and Town & Country's Mark Butler and welcome refreshment points sponsored by SBM Life Science, the walkers were kept motivated as they faced bracing wind and chilly conditions. 

 

Cherry tomato runner Heidi Towse was the first 10 mile runner to complete the route in under 1 hour 45mins before going on to row 13 miles to make up an impressive duathlon.  Alongside Heidi, the Scotsdales team at Great Shelford clocked up the miles on a static bike as they collected money for Greenfingers Charity.



Despite taking a wrong turning, Team Elho was the first 20 mile runners in, closely followed by Matthew Mein and Briers Matt Jackson.  Lead 20 mile walkers, Simon Quinton Smith and Great British Cards Chris Houfe set a blistering pace, collecting their medals looking fresh and confident, closely followed by Gardenstores Paul Williams. 



Completing the walk, Boyd Douglas Davies  said: "What a great day, and what an Incredible turnout - the industry, Scotsdales and the Greenfingers team did us proud! Matt Mein, I take my hat off to, brilliant idea and incredible that he ran it!  Chris Houfe and Simon Quinton Smith -  who'd have thought it! Little did I know when I set off with them that they were both speed walkers. What an incredible Pace, blistering is the only word!  I'm chuffed to bits with the event, the spirit, the amount raised and my own result...8th, just 5 minutes behind the lead walkers...and I ache like mad" 

Goody bags sponsored by Hozelock and Briers and SBM Life Science, who also sponsored the medals along with a welcome barbecue sponsored by LOFA and Outback.greeted the walkers at the finish point. Other event sponsors included GIMA and Kelkay.

See the gallery of photos frome the event below and watch out for a special Garden Re-Leaf Day issue later this week - please send us pictures from you own events.

Eds footnote:  Sorry the pictures are not in order and that this report is late being published.  The walk was a truly blistering experience for me and I've discovered they don't make blister plasters big enough if you carry on walking for 12 miles after the blisters start.  That and our systems being down yesterday are my hopeless excuses, but what a privilege to be a part of a really great event and to do my part to raise funds for Greenfingers.  Bring on Garden Re-Leaf Day 2018!!  By the way our Labradoodles were only just getting started by the time we'd done 20 miles, they just got quite bored as I was walking sooo slow for the last 3 miles...  











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GRLD Walk 170317_GFC274.jpg
GRLD Walk 170317_GFC274.jpg
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