Members of the Garden Centre Association (GCA) have recently elected new members to its board during the organisation’s virtual AGM. David Yardley and Will Blake join the board and Will Blake is confirmed as Chairman Elect to take over as Chairman following Tammy Woodhouse who takes over in 2022 after Mike Burks the current Chairman.
The AGM meeting took place on February 2 with GCA members in attendance voting for who would join the Executive Committee and continue as the Association’s Treasurer.
Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “After so many of our events were cancelled last year for obvious reasons, we were very keen to still be able to hold this year’s AGM, and we did so in a virtual capacity.
“The meeting was a great success, and we would like to thank all the members who gave up their time to join and contribute to the discussions. We heard our GCA Chairman, Mike Burks’ report that 2020 had been a huge challenge, but with great cooperation between the team at the Horticultural Trades Association and the GCA and the way that members had supported each other, showed what a great organisation the GCA is and how important it is.
“Our members also elected two new members to our Executive Committee, these are David Yardley, Chief Executive at the Klondyke Group and Will Blake, who is Director at St Peter’s Garden Centre. We’d like to welcome them both to their new positions.
“Will has been Area Chairman for the Midlands so has sat on the committee for a number of years already, but David joins the committee for the first time. His role in running a group with centres in England, Scotland and Wales will be an invaluable and a unique perspective to add to the committee’s collective experience.”
During the AGM, David Little was also re-elected as Treasurer, however, he did confirm this would be his final year in the role and that he will not be standing again in 2022.
As part of his report, Mike also commented on the Association’s succession plan. He confirmed that current Chairman Elect Tammy Woodhouse, Managing Director of Millbrook Garden Centres will take over in 2022 when his term of office comes to an end and, in turn, Will Blake has agreed to stand as Chairman Elect to follow Tammy.
Ben Harrison of Haskins Garden Centres has agreed to take on the role of Treasurer from next year, when David retires from the role and will be working with David in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition.
The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide.
Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.
For other information, please call 01244 952170, visit www.gca.org.uk, log on to www.facebook.com/pages/GardenCentreAssociation or follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.
