Our Chairman attended an event at
the House of Commons recently to help celebrate the horticultural industry’s
successes.
Peter Burks went to a reception
hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group (APPGHG)
last Monday evening (November 18, 2013).
Peter explained: “I was delighted I
was invited to this important event to help celebrate the successes of both the
APPGHG and the gardening and horticulture sector at large, it was a great
evening.
“The guest of honour at the event
was Jim Carter, the actor and gardening champion. Jim is particularly
well-known at the moment for his role as Carson in ITV’s Downton Abbey. It was
an honour to meet him. I talked to Jim about how he came into gardening as a
result of starting a family and getting a house with a garden. He said what
generous caring sharing people gardeners are, which is very true!
“The event was a great opportunity
for the GCA as a leading national industry body. I enjoyed discussing GCA issues
with many of the sectors leading representatives.
“Jim gave a great speech in support
of Greenfingers. There was also a good rallying call by the Editor of
Horticulture Week, Kate Lowe to support the continued maintenance of public
parks, not to cut funding.
“I also talked to Dr Alan Knight
about how everyone seems to want to promote gardening as being good for
everyone in some way. He had been to a conference of doctors yesterday who were
all saying gardening is the answer. He said its great people outside the
industry are telling everyone how good we are, for example the RSPB where all
their ads are in gardens, not out in the wild!
“I also spoke to a lady from the
Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) who would like closer links between the British
Ornamental Plant Producers (BOPP), the Association of Professional Landscapers
(APL) and the GCA, in fact retail in general. I went on to speak to the chief
executive of the Arboricultural Association who wants to work with us on
educating the public on trees. And finally I had a chat with Bret Willers from
Garden Organic, who is still keen to push people slowly the organic way.”
The reception was sponsored by Scotts Miracle-Gro and took place at the House of Commons’ Terrace Pavillion.
No comments:
Post a Comment