GCA’s South Thames area award winners revealed

by | Jul 20, 2022 | News | 0 comments

Members of the Garden Centre Association (GCA) in the South Thames region are celebrating after picking up awards during a presentation evening last week (Thursday, July 14, 2022) at Ruxley Manor Garden Centre.

The title of Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category went to Ruxley Manor Garden Centre and the Garden Centre (GC) category award went to Coolings Wych Cross.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive at the GCA, said: “Our first regional awards meeting was a great success and it was fantastic to see attendees all actively engaged in the presentations and taking down lots of notes to share with the rest of their teams.

“I’d like to congratulate all of our very worthy winners and give a big ‘thank you’ to Ruxley Manor Garden Centre for being wonderful hosts and Colin Farquhar for inspecting the centres earlier in the year and presenting his findings.”

Colin inspected 52 garden centres in the region within a 12-week period.

He said: “The garden centres in the South Thames area of the GCA displayed the highest standards of customer and plant care I have experienced for a long time. It was a pleasure to watch the genuinely warm interaction between the customers and the colleagues on a daily basis, well worth a visit.”

Ruxley Manor Garden Centre also picked up the award for Catering Excellence, Best Garden Centre Restaurant (DGC) and the Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer.

Andrew Evans, Managing Director at Ruxley Manor Garden Centre said: “We are thrilled to win the best destination garden centre award and wouldn’t have been able to do it without our amazing team and all of their hard work.”

Coolings took ownership of Wych Cross Garden Centre in 2019.

Dwayne Ross, Coolings Managing Director, said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded seven awards by the GCA, an incredible accolade and one the board of directors and I are extremely proud of.

“We couldn’t have achieved this without the fantastic team across all four of our centres and continued support from our customers. We are especially proud of the team at Coolings Wych Cross for being awarded ‘Garden Centre of the Year’ in the South Thames region.

“Since taking ownership of the nursery and garden centre in 2019 we have worked hard to make plants and especially roses the main focus at the centre, as growing has always been at the heart of Coolings.”

Coolings Wych Cross became a GCA member in 2021.

Louise Kemp, Coolings Wych Cross Garden Centre Manager, said: “After joining the GCA just last year, we are delighted to have been awarded Garden Centre of the Year in the South Thames region by the GCA.

“I have a fantastic and passionate team around me here at Wych Cross who I am extremely proud of for all their hard work across the whole centre and rose nursery.”

The full results for the South Thames region GCA area awards can be found here

more latest news ➡

12,000 lost apprenticeship positions in retail

12,000 lost apprenticeship places in retail

Retailers could have offered 12,000 more apprenticeships over the past year if it was not for the Government’s failure to reform the Apprenticeship Levy, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The industry took on approximately 17,000...

GIMA awards 2023

Just four weeks until the GIMA Awards 2023

The garden retail sector is abuzz as the GIMA Awards are set to return in just four weeks!  Taking place at the Celtic Manor resort in Newport, South Wales, the event will once again be a hotbed of celebration and networking, with 17 coveted awards up for grabs. ...

QR Code use in retail

The Rise of the QR Code 

From occasional use to becoming part of our daily lives over the last two years, the QR could continue to prove useful to retailers. For some companies, the pandemic was arguably a gamechanger. A number of technologies which had previously been overlooked then shot...

Read GCR's latest edition!

Subscribe ToThe Wednesday Word

Subscribe To
The Wednesday Word

 

Get all the latest news, events & more straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This