The Garden Centre Association (GCA) and Westland Horticulture Rising Stars 2014 Programme is holding its third and final Masterclass at Van Hage Garden Centre in Peterborough next month.

The remaining 11 ‘rising stars’ will each present to the group on their experiences over the last six months of the programme, giving examples of how they have put this learning into practice in their own garden centres and how they measured the impact.

Once the presentations are over, they will be taking part in various shop floor exercises at Van Hage, led by Ian Boardman, IBBIS Director.

The programme, run by Westland Horticulture and the GCA is now in its sixth year and has been hugely successful to date, welcomed by the industry and participants alike.

Five successful Rising Stars will be selected from September’s Masterclass to attend the GCA Conference in Chester in January, where they will make a presentation on what they have achieved over the year. A winner will then be chosen by conference delegates before being presented with his or her prize at the GCA’s annual gala dinner on Tuesday 27 January 2015.

Keith Nicholson, Marketing Director at Westland Horticulture said: “The standard we have seen in this year’s Rising Stars is exceptional and shows that the industry is attracting great talent. This final session will allow the Rising Stars to showcase what they have learnt and to understand in more detail the importance of merchandising.

Ian Boardman said: “This year the competition is really tough, they will have to really apply themselves to get through to the finals!”

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming the five finalists to present at January’s GCA Conference. We just need to find out who they are now!”

Above: 'Rising Stars' hopefuls looking around Westland products at the previous masterclass, held at Baytree Nurseries and Garden Centre in Spalding.