The Carlo Naef trophy has been awarded to Mr Brian Taylor in recognition of his life-time involvement within the Taylor family’s horticultural and farming business based in Holbeach. Read more - open to all

Romeo Sommers interview about his new your role as Creative Director of the Retail Lab @ Glee. Read more - open to all

Bernard Tickner has been awarded an MBE in Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday Honours. The award has been given in recognition for services to wildlife conservation and horticulture, relating to his voluntary conservation work in Suffolk and for his work at Fullers Mill Garden in West Stow. Read more - open to all

Steve Pitcher started work with Homebase / Bunnings last week, a year after leaving B&Q. Read more - open to all

Evergreen Horticulture welcomes Maxwell Asare who joins this month as National Account Manager to the UK mainland. Read more - open to all

After 25 years at the Bransford Webbs Plant Company Managing Director Geoff Caesar is moving on at the end of July to take up a role with Ball Colegrave as Director at their Bordon Hill Nursery in Stratford upon Avon. Read more - members only

Leading garden structures company, Grange Fencing has boosted its marketing team with the appointment of two dedicated team members. Read more - open to all

Last month’s Perennial ‘Play the Pitch’ charity football tournament was hailed a success by GIMA Director Vicky Nuttall, President Chris Ramsden (Hozelock), and council member Craig Hall from Deco-Pak. The event raised approximately £15,000 for Perennial from 16 teams and was hosted by Leicester City Football Club at the King Power stadium. Read more - open to all

Phil Hurst has joined Mr Fothergill’s as Finance Director. He comes to the Suffolk seedsman from the food group Hain Daniels where he was Financial Controller. This followed spells at Molton Brown and Activity Superstore. Read more - open to all

Richard Pyrah is celebrating almost 20 years in the industry and the last 10 of those as Sales Director at Kelkay but in terms of his length of service at the East Yorkshire company he is really still one of the rooky team! Read more - open to all

Ivyline are delighted to welcome James Brindle as UK sales manager into the team. James brings a wealth of experience, commercial acumen, is well respected within the industry and is a great culture fit for Ivyline. Read more - open to all

Leading wholesaler and trade supplier, Stax Trade Centres, has added two new members to its purchasing team, further strengthening the department. Read more - open to all

Green-tech launched its Apprenticeship scheme in April with the appointment of two Apprentices. Green-tech operates its Apprentice Scheme through Tyro Training, the commercial training division of Craven College. Read more - open to all

Two management trainees at one of the UK’s leading nurseries in Hereford have this month each been given a grant from a charity to help with their transport costs. Read more - open to all

Kelkay has announced that the former Gardman marketing director, Sarah Downing, has been appointed as head of marketing, a newly created role. Read more - open to all

News has emerged that Alistair Lorimer, a respected garden centre expert, died last Thursday after a long fight against cancer. There's to be a service of celebration of his life on Tues 11th July. Read more - open to all

On Thursday 15 June, Mike and Louise Burks, who founded The Gardens Group together in 1987, were presented with an Outstanding Contribution Award at the Western Gazette Business Awards, held at Westlands in Yeovil. Read more - open to all

Garden retail – the great escape – is the theme for this year’s HTA Garden Futures Conference and Dinner, which takes place on Wednesday 4 October at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire. This one day conference and dinner is aimed at all those from across the garden industry from business owners to directors and managers. Read more - open to all

Students attending Birmingham gardening therapy charity Thrive are celebrating winning a coveted Silver Merit Medal for their display at BBC Gardeners’ World Live. Read more - open to all

Matt Jackson has joined Mr Fothergill’s as Business Development Manager. This is a new role and Matt will work with the key garden centre groups and collaborate closely with the field sales teams. He comes to the Suffolk seedsman after 12 years in the garden centre supply trade and brings great experience to the position. Read more - open to all

A highlight of the first day of the HTA Catering Conference was Costas Constantinou explaining to Matthew Appleby, how he would improve the Dobbies restaurants. Read more - members only

Richard Lockwood has re-joined his former Country Gardens boss, Nicholas Marshall as senior plant buyer at Dobbies. Read more - open to all

Haskins Buying Director, Conna Powles, signs up to a life-long ambition to complete a wing walk and in doing so hopes to raise £1k for Greenfingers Charity. Read more - open to all

Thrive’s Chief Executive Kathryn Rossiter swapped her wellies for trainers for five days in May when she took on a massive sporting challenge to raise £5,000 for the gardening therapy charity. Read more - open to all

Joshua Stacey from Pershore College has recently (May, 2017) been presented with Wyevale Nurseries’ Peter Williamson Travel Award. Read more - open to all

Amelia Broome, Young Plant Grower, and Billy Wilce, Area Team Leader, both 20, have won the opportunity to attend the IPPS European Regional Annual Conference, after impressing the judging panel with their personal and employer statements. Read more - open to all

The HTA has backed its management team by promoting finance director, Alex Vick, to senior executive director in charge of day to day operations and by giving each director greater responsibility. Read more - members only

Last week, thirteen students, who are currently part of the Midland Regional Growers Apprenticeship Scheme, visited the Malvern Spring Festival for the schemes Apprentice of the Year Award. Read more - open to all

Trans-Continental Group, the leading supplier of Christmas and outdoor leisure products, is pleased to announce the appointment of Adam Gregory to the position of sales director. Read more - open to all

Mark Wootton, Commercial Director, will be leaving Notcutts in May to pursue other opportunities. Mark has decided that the time has come for him to seek new challenges. Read more - open to all