Two employees at Webbs Garden Centres in Worcestershire who were the first to pilot the Horticultural Trades Associations (HTA) Diploma in Garden Retail have been awarded their certificates.

Carl Beiersdorf, 25, from Webbs in Wychbold and Tom Oliver, 22, from Webbs, West Hagley have completed the year-long training diploma specific to the garden retail environment.

Unveiled by Skills Minister, Lord Young, at the launch of the Retail Skills Academy in London, the HTA’s Diploma in Garden Retail was set up to provide successful candidates with a nationally recognised qualification and because it is properly accredited, candidates had access to Government funding to help pay for the course.

Jayne Green, Webbs Training Officer said, “We were delighted to be at the forefront for this new diploma. It was a great opportunity for Tom and Carl and for Webbs as a whole to benefit from their learning. We hope they are the first of many at Webbs to undertake the diploma.”

Tom Oliver, who lives in Stourbridge, joined Webbs at West Hagley in 2005 and is now Senior Garden Centre Assistant with responsibility for the Garden Shop.

Carl Beiersdorf, who lives in Droitwich, joined Webbs, Wychbold in 2002.  On completion of his Diploma Carl was promoted to Supervisor within the Garden Plants Department.

The qualification, which was developed in association with Skillsmart Retail and Lantra Awards provides ‘bite sized’ modules which build up to a nationally recognised qualification in Retail Knowledge at level 3. The content and learning materials reflects the challenges and opportunities facing the garden centre retail environment in the 21st century.

The diploma has been designed to give candidates a broad understanding of the retail operation, applied to the garden centre. It is delivered through an interactive workbook, to give maximum flexibility and avoid disruption to the workplace.

The pupils had signed up with their schools to take part in the competition at the award-winning garden centre near Droitwich.   Webbs had provided the plants, pots, compost and gardening tips for the youngsters to grow their own bright blue Petunia ‘Easywave.’

Winners were chosen from each school, including Laura Dean from Cutnall Green First School, near Droitwich (pictured).  Laura said, “I loved watching my plant getting bigger and bigger. It is pretty with petals and has nearly six new buds. I gave it some food to grow even better.”

School Head Teacher, Mrs Sue Rudd said, “We just love the opportunity to encourage our children to personally take care of a plant and enjoy comparing the number of leaves and flowers with each other. We hope to awaken an interest in looking after our environment and the things which grow in it. Thank you to Webbs for providing everything free of charge.”

The overall winner was Emily Allbutt from Hanbury First School who won certificates, medals, a trophy and Webbs gift vouchers.

Pictured: Laura Dean from Cutnall Green First School with Professor Pepperpot – photo credit Natasha Payton

There will be plenty on offer to keep children and their families busy in the ten acres of stunning organic demonstration gardens which are in the expert care of leading organic growing charity, Garden Organic.

There will be a collection of den building materials and space in the gardens for families to build their own dens. At 11.30am each day Garden Organic staff will take interested visitors to feed the worms and learn how they help the composting process.

Children can follow summer, compost and texture and colour trails around the gardens and also have the chance to play giant draughts, jenga, 4-in-a-row and chess on a big scale. They can also enjoy the Willow Sculpture of three giant poppies by local artist Tom Hare.

Ryton’s Mark Wilkinson said, “We have tried to provide a variety of activities to ensure that children have an enjoyable experience in our wonderful gardens.”

For those interested in horticulture there are talks about the work of the Heritage Seed Library on September 7th at 10.30am and 2pm and exclusive garden tours led by the Head Gardener on 24th August and 6th September, starting at 11.30am.

For admission prices to Ryton Gardens visit www.rytongardens.co.uk or call 024 76303517. Up to 3 children can have free entry with one paying adult. (Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.) An organic restaurant, shop and garden centre are also on site.

Ten members of the community group have planted a large number of bulbs and bedding plants donated by the award-winning garden centre for the Pat Chippendale Memorial Garden.

Pat Chippendale was a ward sister at the Princess of Wales for a number of years and the Lions’ long-term project, started a year ago, has seen the creation of a bright and colourful space away from the wards, which is appreciated by the patients, their visitors and hospital staff.

Bromsgrove Lions president Bob Dutton thanked Webbs and others who had contributed towards the project’s success and said it was a privilege for Bromsgrove Lions to be involved in such a worthy cause.

Article and photo courtesy of Bromsgrove Standard

The names of Triumph, Jaguar, MG, Morris, Rover and Bentley will be among those vehicles displayed by car enthusiasts from across the Midlands. This year is set to be the biggest and best yet with 350 vehicles registered to take part in the free event.

Vehicles from every decade since the 1920s will be on show from 11am – 4pm.

Executive Chairman, Ed Webb, said: “It’s a fantastic day out for all the family – there is so much to admire. The cars are brought along by true enthusiasts, either as individuals or members of car clubs who are delighted to share their interest with others. We are looking forward to welcoming them all to Webbs.”

“The event has grown into one of the highlights of the summer at Webbs. We started with just 13 cars on display at the first show and it’s now grown into an incredibly popular event. ”

The event has the maximum number of vehicles taking part this year.

The day saw employees at Webbs, Wychbold;  Webbs, West Hagley and Webbs, Ryton Gardens, pull on a huge variety of colourful wellies to work in, each paying £2, which raised money for the charity Action Medical Research.

Wellies to Work was inspired by Action Medical Research’s mascot Paddington Bear. Action Medical Research is a leading children’s research charity, founded nearly 60 years ago. They have been instrumental in some of the most significant breakthroughs in recent medical history including the UK polio vaccine and ultrasound scanning in pregnancy.

Webbs Executive Chairman, Ed Webb said, “This really captured the imagination of staff and is a great way to raise funds for a worthwhile charity. It was also very interesting to see staff wear wellies which suit their personality – everything from bright pink to leopard print! It was great to see staff supporting the day, wearing wellies inside the office as well as in the garden!”

More than 1,500 images from 330 photographers were submitted to win a place representing each month in the 2012 Calendar, which is raising funds for Webbs’ chosen hospice charities of the year including Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge and Kemp Hospice in Kidderminster.

Each of the hospices will be given hundreds of the colourful calendars to raise vital cash for their work with patients and families with life-threatening illnesses. Last year’s calendar for the hospices proved a great success.

“Once again there were lots of fantastic images,” said Webbs Executive Chairman, Ed Webb. “We had a superb range to choose from which beautifully capture the essence of the changing seasons. The calendar is now a regular fixture and I’m sure will be very popular with our customers as well as benefiting our wonderful local hospices.”

Janet Jones, Head of Fundraising at Mary Stevens Hospice added, “We are most grateful to Ed Webb and the staff for so generously donating their calendars to raise much needed funds for our Hospice. The garden centre at Hagley has held a series of events to raise the profile of their chosen hospices which have also brought in additional income towards patient care.”

Ele Millward from Kemp said, “We are extremely grateful for the ongoing support from Webbs.  It’s only through support like this that we are able to continue providing the highest level of palliative care for people throughout the Wyre Forest area who are living with life threatening illness.”

The calendar is now on sale at the Garden Centre in Kidderminster Road South, West Hagley, and at Webbs, Wychbold priced £4.99.

The 12 winning entrants each received Webbs Gift Vouchers worth £30 and 12 copies of the calendar to give to friends and family.

The popular annual event, from charity Garden Organic, is dedicated to the apple harvest and promises a fun day out for all of the family. Jammed full of apple themed fun from orchard tours, apple identification, apple tasting, apple tree sales, as well as access to expert organic fruit growing advice – there will be something to interest any age range.

Open from 11am – 4pm, visitors will be able to sample and buy from a range of apple varieties, whilst children can make apple bird feeders. Visitors lucky enough to have their own apple trees are invited to bring along their windfall apples and have a go at apple pressing. Bring a container if you want to take your juice home!

Mark Wilkinson, Visitor Manager at Ryton Gardens said, “Apple Weekend will be the chance for people to learn more about apples, get a taste of the diverse varieties we have in the UK, and pick up tips on how to grow fruit in their own gardens, no matter how large or small their space.”

“We’ll be giving people the chance to press their own apple juice from windfall apples and for those visitors that want to identify what apple variety is growing in their garden, we’ll have experts from Pershore College on Sunday 16 October to help.” He added, “With over twenty apple varieties in our orchard we’re looking forward to sharing our harvest with visitors during the weekend.”

Apple Day events are FREE. Entry to the gardens and garden tours: £5.50 for adults and £3.50 for children and concessions. Anyone bringing along apples to be identified will get into the gardens free. Those wanting to enjoy the apple-themed menu in the Webbs organic restaurant are urged to book in advance on 024 76308213. For more information visit www.rytongardens.co.uk

The free weekend event dedicated to the bountiful apple harvest will take place at Webbs, Wychbold, near Droitwich,  from 11am – 4pm.

The weekend will give visitors the chance to see a wonderful array of apple trees and get free expert advice on how to grow fantastic apples at home, along with apple tastings of different varieties and an apple themed ramble through the Riverside Gardens.

Pershore College expert Richard Toft will be available to identify apple varieties on Saturday only from 11am – 1pm and 2pm – 4pm.  Visitors are asked to bring along a few apples from their own trees to find out the variety.

The 400 seat restaurant will be tantalizing customers with apple themed menu and there will be plenty of apple produce in the Food Hall.

Webbs Executive Chairman Ed Webb said, “There is something delicious and satisfying about harvesting your own apples. We are very lucky in this area to have the most wonderful apples and we hope to celebrate this bounty with our visitors on our Apple Weekend. I’m sure there will also be lots of local people who would love to find out what the apples are in their garden, so this is the chance to bring them along and find out exactly what variety they are growing.”

One hundred organic pumpkins grown on site will be ready for special hands-on pumpkin workshops. Crowds of children are expected to flock to the workshops which will take place every day from Monday 24th – Friday 28th October from 1pm – 4pm.

Children will be able to don an apron and scoop out a pumpkin ready for a Webbs staff member to carve a Halloween face. Tickets are just £4.50 per child to include a pumpkin and battery tea light.

For outdoor fun, from 9am – 5pm children can follow an Autumn Fun trail around the 10 acres of organic demonstration gardens and all correct entries will go into a prize draw.

Entry to the gardens is free for up to three children with one full paying adult.  Ryton Gardens is the home of the UK’s leading organic growing charity Garden Organic.

Ed Webb said: “The pumpkin workshops are great fun and we have piles of pumpkins ready to go. Children just can’t wait to get stuck in and have something creative to show at the end of it.”