EVENTS
Great show with festive atmosphere Some of us will only just have packed away the home Christmas decorations for 2019 and the planning for Christmas 2020 will commence. The spa town of Harrogate plays host to the first Christmas & Gift Fair of the year and both exhibitors and seasonal buyers will freely admit it’s a great show and a wonderful atmosphere. As they have done for many years now, National Tree Company will exhibit their remarkable collection of luxury artificial Christmas Trees, wreaths and garlands. The family operated business is one of the largest wholesalers of artificial Christmas trees, with a wealth of international awards and accolades. National Tree Company joined forces with the team from Norfolk Leisure to ensure that their finely crafted trees and decorations are available more widely in the UK and Ireland and with a better service experience. “In its sixth year, this partnership is even stronger,” says Nick Anderson, MD of Norfolk Leisure. “We are holding increased stocks of the National Tree Company products with the capability and capacity to deliver from our large Norfolk warehouse and offer a comprehensive drop ship service.” You may be familiar with some of the more well-known innovations including Feel Real® PE branch tips that are so realistic in appearance and to the touch, it is very difficult to tell the difference between Feel Real® trees and their living twins. Pair this with the pioneering technologies
and light design innovation, to achieve the most advanced collection of artificial trees available. Norfolk Leisure also stock an extensive range of the Fibreglass ornaments – including a LIFESIZE Santa – many of which have LED lights and music options. The musical and mechanical drummer boy will actually play his drum to your favourite Christmas tunes.
Focusing on the environment Environmentalist Trewin Restorick has been announced as one of the headline speakers booked for the Garden Centre Association’s annual conference in Bristol on January 26-29. “This year’s conference has a real focus on the environment and what we can do as an industry to be more environmentally-friendly and aware, so we’re thrilled to announce environmentalist Trewin as the first of our speakers for the event,” said Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA. “He will be speaking about corporate social responsibility, behaviour change to combat climate change, green living and charity and business partnerships. We think he will be a real inspiration to our members and help them to think more about the issues we’re facing, not just as an industry, but as individuals and as a country.” Trewin is the founding CEO of Hubub, a charity which makes environmental issues fun. It works to bring issues of climate change, carbon footprints and global warming into the public eye in a fun and light-hearted way. He is also the former CEO and founder of independent environmental charity Global Action Plan. Under his leadership, the charity ran programmes to reduce carbon emissions, energy consumption and waste with businesses, schools,
20 December 2019/January 2020
Environmentalist Trewin Restorick community organisations and households. Trewin acted at the Chair of the Environmental IT Leadership Team (EILT) and sat on the Defra Third Sector Advisory Board, is a trustee for Sustainability and Environmental Education, and co-chaired Defra’s Compact Group. He has also been trained as one of Al Gore’s UK Climate Change Ambassadors and is a frequent media commentator on environmental issues for Channel 4 News, Sky News, BBC Breakfast and CNN.
www.gardentradenews.co.uk
“A visit to the stand is a must for any Christmas buyer,” says Nick. “The quality stands out clearly from the competition, the range is exceptional, and the designs are truly unique and stunning.” 4For more informnation call 01553 811717, visit www.norfolkleisure.com, or email Christmas@norfolkleisure.co.uk
Attendees at this Sir Tim Smit conference will also hear from co-founder and Executive Vice Chair of the award-winning Eden Project Sir Tim Smit KBE. Tim will talk to GCA members on Tuesday, January 28 about the value of leading by example, how to engage teams and meeting challenges head on. Iain Wylie added: “Everyone who is familiar with the Eden Project will know how successful it has been. It has received more than 20 million visitors since it opened its doors in 2001 and is both a showcase for world-class horticulture and an architectural symbol of human endeavour. “Eden has taken a pivotal role in local regeneration, showing that sustainability is about good business practice and citizenship. It has contributed £2billion to the local economy and its next planned development is a huge geothermal plant, designed to meet all Eden’s energy needs and power 5,000 homes.” Tim is a trustee, patron and board member of several bodies. He has received the Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal and was voted ‘Great Briton of 2007’ in the environment category of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Awards.