Peter Williamson Travel Award goes to Joshua

Joshua Stacey from Pershore College has recently (May, 2017) been presented with Wyevale Nurseries’ Peter Williamson Travel Award.

The 21-year-old, who is in his second year of a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Horticulture, scooped the accolade after impressing the judges with a written submission and an interview.

Steve Ashworth, Director at Wyevale Nurseries in Hereford, explained: “We would like to say a huge congratulations to Joshua on winning the prestigious award. We designed the award to encourage a student towards a career in nursery stock production by assisting with a practical placement at a nursery in the Netherlands.

“Joshua won the award from among an excellent standard of student applications due to his determined interviewee skills. We were very impressed with his knowledge and pure enthusiasm in all.

“The Peter Williamson Travel Award was started in memory of Wyevale Nurseries former owner and chairman, Peter Williamson, who passed away in 2011.

“Annually the award is presented to a student at Pershore College in Worcestershire, which was Peter’s own seat of learning in the 1960’s. The award subsidises and organises for the successful applicant to do a period of work in the Netherlands during the college summer vacation, as Peter also did more than 40 years ago.”

Joshua will spend three weeks with Henk Huibers at Batouwe Nurseries and three weeks with Frank van Helvert and Derk van Dorland at Huverba Nurseries, both suppliers to Wyevale Nurseries. Peter Williamson also visited these two nurseries in 2009.

Wyevale Nurseries also presented Joshua with £500 to help pay for his travel costs.

Joshua said: “It will be my first trip abroad and straight to the hub of European horticultural excellence. I will be keen to learn about the nursery-world and will be ready for anything.”

The award was first presented to Ben Gregory, who was a second-year horticulture degree student at Pershore, in 2012. He worked at Poppelaars Nurseries in the Netherlands. Ben is now the Product Development Manager at Wyevale Nurseries.

For further details about Wyevale Nurseries, which is based in Hereford, please call 01432 845 200, visit www.wyevalenurseries.co.uk, follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WyevaleNurs or log on to www.facebook.com/WyevaleNurs.