The Garden Centre Association has secured a plethora of sponsors for its 55th conference taking place next week, including joint headline sponsorship from Evergreen Garden Care and Westland Horticulture.

A further 21 companies have also sponsored awards, days, speakers and various other aspects of the event this year including Smart Garden Products as a secondary main sponsor for the overall event.

GCA CEO Peter Burks says: “We’ve had a great take up for sponsorship this year. We’ve also had a bumper number of delegates sign up to join us next week – almost 400 members coming across the three days – and we’ve some brilliant speakers booked too. It promises to be an excellent event with some great opportunities for everyone to get together to share best practice and socialise as well.

“Evergreen Garden Care is a major and well-respected supplier to many of our member garden centres and is trusted by our industry to deliver products that work for gardeners. Westland Horticulture provides gardening, bird and pet care, as well as environmental products. It covers everything from propagation to digging, watering to weeding.

“Smart Garden Products are also well known to our members as a leading supplier of a variety of garden products and accessories. The company has also built up an enviable reputation for design and innovation in solar powered consumer products under the brands Smart Solar and Super Bright.

“We’re indebted to our sponsors whose support helps make all this happen so successfully. I would like to thank all our Monday award sponsors in each category for supporting us this year and to Hozelock our sponsors for the Monday of the conference too.

“I’d also like to acknowledge our day two sponsors, especially Taylors Bulbs for sponsoring the whole day, Davidson Richards for helping keep us well fuelled by sponsoring our morning tea/coffee break, Quinton Edwards for our Tuesday champagne reception, Fordingbridge for our Gala Dinner and wine, and Bons Bon’s for the delicious after-dinner chocolates we’ll all be enjoying.”

The GCA’s  2024 annual conference will be held at the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel near Cirencester, Gloucestershire from this Sunday, January 28 until Wednesday, January 31.

It includes the body’s annual awards presentations and feedback from its inspectors, as well as industry relevant guest speakers.

The conference has ‘The Future of Garden Retailing’ as its main theme and its sub-themes are Environment & Sustainability, Trends & Insights and Health & Wellbeing.

The GCA Conference 2024 sponsors include:

• Evergreen (main sponsor)
• Westland (main sponsor)
• Smart Garden Products (secondary sponsor)
• Hozelock (Monday day)
• Taylors Bulbs (Tuesday day)
• Europlants (folders and pads)
• CM Ventures (pens)
• CSY Retail (lanyards)
• AMES (Monday dinner and wine)
• Quinton Edwards (Tuesday champagne reception)
• Fordingbridge (Tuesday Gala Dinner and wine)
• Bons Bon’s (After dinner chocolates – Tuesday)
• Davidson Richards (Tuesday morning tea/coffee break)
• Museum & Galleries (Associate’s Exhibition)
• Clifton Coffee Roasters (Catering Award)
• GIMA (Garden Products Retailer Award)
• Merzario (Indoor Lifestyle Award)
• Woodlodge (Outdoor Living Award)
• Gisela Graham (Christmas Competition)
• Wildlife World (Environment & Sustainability Award)
• Worldpay (Customer Service Award)
• Wyevale Nurseries (Ruxley Rose Best Plantaria Award)
• Opcharge (Ed Gillespie and Mark Stevenson – guest speakers speaking about the Environment & Sustainability)