In This Issue
Dobbies U-turn over bid to charge charities £400
Get involved in Garden Re-Leaf Day with 'Loose Change'
Work to begin on Greenfingers garden at Chestnut Tree House
Woodlodge's Ian Flounders is all at sea for charity
Garden Centre sales up on the previous year for five weeks in a row
Gloves and water butts make their mark on Bestsellers chart
Fiskars celebrates 365 years of innovation and design with TV campaign
New GCA Chair plans to reinvigorate the regions
LazyLawn patents its pioneering turf
Plans for new homes on Barrow garden centre site to be voted on next week
BETA International promises much at the NEC on February 16-18
Less than a week to go before HTA Catering Conference
Senior Buyer wanted by Greenfingers.com
New faces at Smart Solar as sales grow
Stronger Off3ers from Gardman for National Nest Box Week
Kelkay expands its plans for aggregates
New GIMA member Textice has great new solutions for plant supports
Purple carrot patch captures imagination
Focus should be on sowing composts
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
Boyd adds 6 centres to Hillview
Bayer Garden help retailers to help shoppers
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Situations Vacant
Senior Buyer wanted by Greenfingers.com
 

Having proven its economic model, Greenfingers.com is now looking to double the scale of its business in the next three years. Part of that expansion includes the recruitment of a Senior Buyer...
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Woodlodge's Ian Flounders is all at sea for charity



Ian Flounders, of Woodlodge Products, is taking part in the Celtic Challenge Rowing Race in May to raise money for charity, including Greenfingers... 

Ian is a member of Crannog Rowing Club (www.crannogrowingclub.co.uk), a sea rowing club based in Llangrannog, Ceredigion in West Wales. Members of the club row in Celtic long boats, a modern day craft with four rowers and a cox.

The club is mad up of all ages and it meets regularly on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday morning, from March until the end of September – during the winter months it meets on Sunday mornings, weather and tide permitting.

"We are a small but dedicated club of around 18 members," said Ian's partner Rhian Evans. "We race in various regattas hosted by rowing clubs along the  beautiful Welsh coastline, where we enter ladies, mens and mixed teams.

"There are several categories and last year we won our first piece of silverware ever in the Super-vets Mixed Team (qualifying criteria combined age of all four rowers being 200 or over!)

"We decided to undertake the Celtic Challenge, rowing from Ireland to Wales, to challenge ourselves and also to raise money for charity. 

"We have chosen Greenfingers as one of our charities, due to the great work that they do providing magical and inspiring gardens for the children, siblings and families who use hospices around the UK to enjoy. Also several members of our rowing club have employment based around the garden industry.

"Along with Ian, who works with Woodlodge, one member has his own worm compost business and a couple of other members have their own gardening rounds, and all came to the unanimous decision that Greenfingers was a charity they wished to support."

The Celtic Challenge (www.celtic-challenge.org.uk) is the world’s longest true rowing race where teams race from Arklow in County Wicklow, Ireland, to Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast, a distance of about 90 nautical miles.

Celtic and Pembrokeshire longboats take part (and occasionally other similar boats also join in) – each boat is about 24 feet (8m) long and has four fixed seats and one cox. Each team doing the Celtic Challenge consists of 12 people who take it in turns to row, spending the time in between on a support boat. A small inflatable is generally used to transfer people between the support boat and the rowing boat.

"It is indeed a tough challenge, a test of endurance and we are training hard at the moment," added Rhian.

"We have kept training all winter, on the sea when the conditions allow, and on the river at other times. During one October training session on the river, we rowed up river to the glorious view of the sun setting and then rowed back down river, in the moonlight! It was very magical."

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