Staff at garden centres in The Garden Centre Group are celebrating this month (February, 2012) after receiving awards at the company’s Spring Show at the Malvern Showground. 

Nicholas Marshall, Chief Executive at The Garden Centre Group, presented 15 awards on February 8 to garden centres, staff members and suppliers for their outstanding achievements in 2011. 

Stephen Pitcher, Director of Purchasing at The Garden Centre Group, said: “I would like to congratulate all the winners. They have put in a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work and they all thoroughly deserve their awards.” 

During the evening three awards were presented for the Garden Centre of the Year. Findon Garden Centre in West Sussex won the ‘small centre’ award and Chilton Garden Centre in Oxfordshire was awarded the ‘medium centre’ prize. 

Bridgemere Nursery & Garden World in Cheshire was presented with the award for ‘Garden Centre of the Year – large centre’. These awards were given to garden centres that showed the most growth during 2011. 

Staff at the garden centres in the group also voted for their garden category supplier of the year for 2011 and the award was given to Gardman. 

World’s End Garden Centre in Buckinghamshire collected the award for ‘Outstanding Plantarea Team Achievement 2011’. 

Stephen added: “Staff at World’s End Garden Centre won their award because of their outstanding plant merchandising and care within their plantarea. They set a very high standard for us all to aspire to. 

“The horticultural industry is highly competitive and I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all our members of staff for their dedication to the company during 2011.”