Celebrations for Springmount as horticulturist Emma wins award
THERE were celebrations at Springmount Garden Centre recently when horticulturist Emma Cooke was voted as the first winner of the Westland Rising Stars in Ireland.
Emma’s name appeared in lights at the Retail Excellence Ireland awards in Galway, as she was invited up to collect her award.
The Westland Rising Stars is run in association with and supported by Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) and Bord Bia. The initiative seeks out and celebrates excep- tional talent in the garden centre industry. It was inspired by the Gro-Mór campaign which aims to get Ireland growing. It is co-ordinated by Westland Horticulture, a key sponsor of Gro-Mór.
Emma was over the moon with the win, saying the programme had helped her ‘ to become more creative and to think outside the box.’
‘It’s also given me more confidence in my abilities,’ she said. ‘I would like to say a big thank you to Westland for sponsoring the programme and to Ian Boardman of Ibbis for making it such a fun learning experience.’
Elaine Warren, owner of Springmount, said the uplift in sales generated ‘was amazing’.
‘ Thanks to Emma’s efforts, we really delivered on the Gro-Mór aim, to get Ireland growing,’ she said. ‘I’d recommend other garden centre managers to get behind the programme next year.’ She thanked Westland for introducing the initiative to Ireland and looked forward to participating in the future.