GCA update

A Busy Year for the GCA

It’s been 12 months of highs and lows for the Garden Centre Association, but with the annual Christmas Competition up and running again, 2021 ended on a celebratory note, as Chief Executive Iain Wylie reveals…

It’s difficult to know where to start when looking back to 2021! The year began with yet another wave of Covid-19 and lockdowns until spring, with different rules, regulations and guidance in each of the four nations.

In England, garden centres were allowed to remain open throughout, however centres in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were not so lucky, and hospitality was impacted across the board. Pre-2020, catering had become such an important and integral part of garden centre operations, but many locations have had to rethink their food focus since the pandemic first took hold.

For the first time in as long as any of us could remember the January GCA Annual Conference couldn’t go ahead and for the Garden Centre Association - having cancelled inspections in 2020 and our Christmas Competition in December 2020 - this was particularly disappointing, if necessary in the circumstances. We had to wait until March for some clarity about the likely road ahead.

The spring season started well for garden centres, with the increased interest in gardening seen in 2020 continuing. Demand was high but there was huge disruption to the supply chain, container shortages and a ship getting stuck in a canal not helping matters! Our members worked hard to meet these challenges and to adapt, day-by-day.

The GCA’s team of inspectors usually start visiting centres in March but although we were keen to resume inspections in 2021 after the 2020 hiatus, there was a slight delay until May, but all visits were concluded by the end of July. It was a real boost that all member centres received a visit, and as a consequence we were able to bring back the GCA awards.

Following a two-year absence, in-person meetings began in September, with our GCA inspector for each area making a presentation and announcing the local winners

We judged centres in October for our Ruxley Rose Competition, with the muchcoveted trophy going to the best plant area. The winner will be announced in January.

It is very clear that in spite of, or perhaps because of, the pandemic, quality, standards, flair and imagination in GCA member plant areas have got better than ever, so it was a very difficult task to decide the winner. This is extremely encouraging, given the recent challenges faced with stock management and availability and shows that plants remain at the very heart of our members’ businesses. They are ready to meet the needs of the estimated three million new gardeners that have emerged since the start of the pandemic.

In November our annual Christmas Competition also returned with a high number of entries to be judged around the country. The judging was completed that month, with the winners, Barton Grange, in the Destination Garden Centre category and Castle Gardens in the Garden Centre category, announced in December. Their displays were as magical as ever and along with all the entrants, a considerable amount of work had gone in to maintaining COVID safety and delivering amazing visual merchandising.

The GCA also held its five yearly strategic review of activities in 2021 and we will continue to offer and improve the valued benefits to members. These include our GROW e-learning programme and the Barometer of Trade, in addition to inspections, competitions and area meetings.

We have had to adapt many things since the start of 2020 and many new ways of doing things have developed. Virtual meetings, for example, almost unheard of two years ago, will no doubt continue to play a part in what we do. We will see an increased focus on the environment and sustainability, not just reducing our carbon footprint but also the positive role that gardening can play in delivering a more sustainable future and the health and wellbeing benefits it provides, too.

Recently we have been preparing for our annual conference in January. An ideal venue, The Dunkenhalgh Hotel, near Blackburn and a great line up of speakers, such as Ruby Wax and Guy Singh-Watson, the founder of Riverford Organics, to name just two, have been booked for the 23rd to 26th January. Of course, the emergence of the new Omicron variant may cast some doubt but at the time of writing we are pressing ahead with making the event a success. Safety is firmly front of mind though and we will only go ahead if permitted and we can do so in a Covidsecure way.

It is clear that members do want to meet up and share experiences at the event, and our conference is a great example of this in action but come what may, the GCA will be there to support members throughout the year. We have been delighted to welcome more than 20 new members in 2021 putting our membership at an all-time high and if you aren’t already a member we’d be delighted to discuss joining the GCA with you.

For more information visit: www.gca.org.uk, email: info@gca.org.uk, or call: 01244 952170. Alternatively log on to www.facebook.com/ GardenCentreAssociation or follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.