News

Three UK-made fragrances have joined Ashleigh & Burwood’s signature Lamp Fragrances and The Scented Home collection

Ashleigh & Burwood

partners with Literacy Capital PLC

Ashleigh & Burwood has joined the family of companies under the umbrella of Literacy Capital PLC.

Literacy Capital has supported the main shareholders of Ashleigh & Burwood, as they start planning for retirement and succession. John and Louise Nettleton, who founded the company with their son Andrew in 1993, are both in their eighties and are now finally going to fully take their well‐deserved retirement.

Joining managing director Andrew and the existing team to strengthen the board and executive management is Tony Buffin as non‐executive chairman. Tony brings a wealth of experience, having led Holland & Barrett as CEO and previously served as CFO at Travis Perkins and Coles Group in Australia. In addition, Jed Kenrick has joined the company as chief operating officer to scale‐up operations. He previously served in similar roles at Dyson and Travis Perkins.

Literacy Capital will help to build on Ashleigh & Burwood’s impressive growth to date, broadening brand awareness with an increased focus on sales and marketing. It will also look for potential bolt‐on acquisitions that will add further scale to the business, while also providing diversification opportunities.

Hugely important to the founders of Ashleigh & Burwood, Literacy Capital understands the family ethos of the company and will carry this forward as Ashleigh & Burwood develops. Additionally significant is the fact that Literacy Capital has an active charitable objective at its heart, which is to advance the education of children in the UK, in particular by promoting or supporting the development of literacy in communities where children are struggling.

Literacy Capital makes an annual donation equating to 0.9% of the group’s net asset value, thereby providing consistent, long‐term and growing charitable donations as the fund increases in size. Since the creation of Literacy Capital in 2017, more than £4.3 million has been donated to charities focused on improving UK literacy.

One of the key beneficiaries of the annual donation is Bookmark Reading Charity (www.bookmarkreading.org), which provides one‐on‐one reading programmes between volunteers in the community and children aged five to eight who need extra support with their reading. Andrew commented: “The team and I are really excited by the new opportunities that this partnership with Literacy Capital offers. It has been a privilege working alongside our new colleagues for the last few weeks, and the wider experience and insight that they bring to Ashleigh & Burwood is already proving invaluable. We are also proud to be contributing to the Bookmark Reading Charity, both as a business and as volunteers.”

Bookmark founder and chair Sharon Pindar added: “I would like to say a huge thank you to Ashleigh & Burwood for all their hard work, as being part of the Literacy Capital family translates into donations for Bookmark, which enables us to support children falling behind with their reading: a vital life skill. Bookmark is going from strength to strength, and we are now supporting more children than ever before. However, since schools went back in September, we have faced unprecedented demand to provide volunteer-led reading support to children in primary schools across the country. We currently have more than 400 children waiting for a reading volunteer, and we’ve had to close to new schools. Without this support, these children may go on to be one of the one in four children leaving primary schools each year unable to read well.”

Asleigh & Burwood Managing Director Andrew Nettleton

Call to action – are you able to help?

Bookmark needs huge numbers of reader volunteers to meet demand. It provides all the training and support, and it is an incredibly worthwhile experience for the volunteer. Each spends just one hour a week, split into two 30-minute sessions, supporting a child online for six weeks. So how can you help?

1. Encourage your employees and their families to volunteer for Bookmark at www.bookmarkreading.org/volunteer 2. Share the urgent call to action with your wider networks, from suppliers and customers to social media followers 3. Share within your own personal networks such as LinkedIn and WhatsApp groups

New for Mother’s Day From Lesser & Pavey

Pictured is the new ‘I Love You Mum’ range, by the Lesser & Pavey British artist Jennifer Rose. The design features on a fine china mug, a ceramic coaster, a mug and coaster gift set, a stemless wine glass and a tumbler, a glass vase for floral arrangements, a three-dimensional heart plaque, a fragranced diffuser, and a candle. New Mother’s Day items have also been added to the very popular Madelaine range, ready for Sunday March 19. The collection has been enhanced with fine china mugs, a wine glass, a fragranced candle, and a diffuser.

Lesser & Pavey will be exhibiting at Harrogate Christmas & Gift, which takes place from January 15 to January 18 at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Yorkshire, and Spring Fair, which will be held from February 5 to February 8 at the NEC in Birmingham.

Congratulations!

Huge congratulations to Sophie Bylina and Tom Williams at Museums & Galleries, who have just announced their engagement.

The couple have been together for six and a half years, after they were set up on a blind date by Tom’s friend who Sophie used to work with at Leicester Tigers. Sophie worked there in corporate hospitality and events and then became relationship manager for partners.

“It was a complete shock to me,’’ said Sophie. “We were on holiday in Parga, a little town on the north-west coast of Greece, sitting having a glass of wine on the beach before dinner, watching the sunset, when he asked me. It was perfect!”.

Sophie has worked at M&G for four years, and Tom will have been there for 10 years next summer (2023 is also M&G’s 10th anniversary).

The pair has set a wedding date for May 2024.

David Hester

Enesco

strengthens sales team

Enesco has announced some significant changes to its UK and European sales team. David (or Dave as he prefers to be known) Hester has been appointed as a national account manager to the UK sales team. He is an experienced national account manager and brings extensive knowledge Jens de Voogd gained during his most recent posts with Kinetico and Grunwerg. Dave will work from his home in Harrogate and will be responsible for accounts such as F. Hinds, Argos and Shop Direct. The company has also promoted Richard Harrison and Jens de Voogd to the roles of field sales managers. Richard will be leading the UK field sales team, having joined Enesco more than 20 years ago. He began as a regional display assistant and has worked as an area sales manager for the past 17 years, seeing many changes, advances in technology and thousands Richard Harrison of new products. His dedication to the company and his customers is key to his recent promotion.

Jens joined Enesco during the pandemic as export sales manager for the Netherlands, and will now take on the additional responsibilities as field sales manager for Europe, supporting his colleagues across Germany and the wider European market. Prior to Enesco, he studied Food and Business in Nijmegen and worked in several sales positions within the food industry. The most recent was at IMCD, where he sold flavours within the savoury food enhancement segment.

Broughton & Beech to distribute Cocodor

Broughton & Beech has announced a new partnership with Cocodor. Established in 2002, Cocodor has quickly established its brand in many countries around the world with its unique blend of floral home fragrance products.

Richard Wood, director of Broughton & Beech, said: “We are delighted and excited to be working with the team at Cocodor. Their range of floral diffusers utilising faux and preserved florals are an ideal gift or a self-purchase treat. Alcohol-free, vegan, and with retail prices starting from £14.99, these products offer exceptional value and come supplied with free display testers. The addition of Cocodor adds further diversity to our portfolio.”

Broughton & Beech is now taking pre-orders for its January launch.

New PR agency offers services to brands and retailers

A specialist public relations agency launched on November 1 which offers targeted product PR and campaign support to brands and retailers. Retail PR is the brainchild of entrepreneur, and retail, PR, and gifting expert Courtney Rogers (pictured). Following a soft launch earlier this year, it won founding clients including the British Toy & Hobby Association (BTHA), which runs the Toy Fair, held annually in Olympia London. Courtney said: “The creation of Retail PR, the sister company to PR solutions company CIJ Group, was a natural evolution of our talent and services. In the six years since CIJ Group’s inception, we have seen phenomenal growth, and now work with more than 150 brands and retailers, some of whom asked us to provide a PR service that catered for their needs throughout the year. And so Retail PR was born: an agency whose ethos is underpinned by offering unrivalled value, with monthly support inclusive of a bespoke programme of activations and PR solutions, centred around the retail calendar.”

Retail PR is specifically designed to support high street and online retailers, plus brands across retail verticals including gifting, food and drink, lifestyle and homeware. Specialisms have developed from understanding the challenges across the retail sector, through working with clients through its sister company, including Freemans, eBay, JoJo Maman Bebé, Buyagift, Prezzybox, Moonpig and many more across the past six years.

Jo Whiley launches new Dobbies store

Broadcaster and Dobbies’ ambassador Jo Whiley officially opened Dobbies Garden Centres’ new flagship store at Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire on November 3.

To celebrate the launch, Jo was joined by ITV This Morning’s gardening presenter Daisy Payne; the Mayor of Tewkesbury Borough, councillor John Murphy; and a range of key people from across the region, plus local schoolchildren and charity representatives.

Jo said: “I’ve had a fantastic time opening Dobbies’ newest store. With such a diverse range of products, there’s something for all members of the family, which will make it a brilliant day out.”

Spanning 70,000sq ft, the Tewkesbury store represents one of Dobbies’ biggest garden centres and is expected to serve more than 750,000 customers each year. The launch comes just in time for Christmas, with the new store featuring Dobbies’ full festive product range.

Dobbies CEO Graeme Jenkins said: “As our biggest store in the southwest, the opening of Dobbies’ Tewkesbury is an important and exciting milestone.” The branch features plants, houseplants, gardening products, seasonal items, a pet range, cookshop, home décor, gifts, and toys, as well as a Walter Smith butcher and Waitrose products in the food hall. There is also a soft play area for children and a 10,000sq ft restaurant.

Reinforcing its reputation as a go-to destination for a Christmas experience, a programme of festive events began in late November, including a Christmas Shopping Night in aid of Dobbies’ national charity partner Teenage Cancer Trust, as well as Santa’s Grotto, Santa Paws and festive afternoon tea.

Founded in 1865, Dobbies is headquartered near Edinburgh. It is billed as the UK’s largest garden centre retailer, with 75 stores and around 4,000 team members.