Following the Garden Centre Group (GCG) Spring show held recently at the Malvern showground, garden centre staff across the country have been celebrating after winning a host of prizes.
GCG chief executive Nicholas Marshall presented 15 awards to centres, individual staff members and suppliers for outstanding achievements during 2011.

These included Garden Centre of the Year, judged on how much centres had grown during 2011. This award was won by Findon Garden Centre in West Sussex in the small category and Chilton Garden Centre in Oxfordshire for medium. The winner of the large Garden Centre of the Year award was Bridgemere Nursery and Garden World in Cheshire.

Garden Centre Group director of purchase Stephen Pitcher 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."

Staff at the garden centres in the group also voted for their garden category supplier of the year for 2011, which was won by Gardman.

World's End Garden Centre in Buckinghamshire collected an award for outstanding plantarea team achievement.

"They set a very high standard for us all to aspire to," added Mr Pitcher. "The horticultural industry is very competitive and I would like say a big thank you to all our members of staff for their dedication to the company during 2011."