A PERSHORE garden centre has thanked local people for their support after making hundreds of deliveries during lockdown.
Staff at Pershore College Garden Centre and Nursery have been working throughout the coronavirus pandemic to provide gardening supplies and plants to people nearby.
Five weeks into lockdown the staff had completed more than 300 deliveries of products ranging from seeds and compost, to plants and cider.
An online shop was set-up to manage the huge demand, and now the garden centre and nursery are back open there has been significant take-up on the newly launched click-and-collect service.
On some days the garden centre specifically has been taking more than double the amount of revenue as it would usually at this time of year – as green-fingered locals spruce up their gardens during lockdown.
The garden centre and nursery are based on site at Pershore College, which is part of college group WCG.
Josh Egan-Wyer, Pershore College Garden Centre and Nurseries manager, said: “It’s been a crazy few months for us and we’d like to extend a thank you to all of the local people who have supported us during lockdown.
“On the first day of our delivery service alone we had around 100 orders to fulfil, and we hope we have been providing a valuable service to people in these difficult times.
“I think shopping habits will have changed somewhat as a result of this crisis and we will see more people looking locally for their produce.
“We’re still keeping up our delivery service for those who aren’t able to visit us down at Pershore College, and we’ve developed some great relationships with customers who have been thankful for deliveries.
“It’s still been a difficult few months, and we have a lot of ground to cover to catch back-up financially, but without the support of local people we would be in a much worse position.”
Pershore College Garden Centre and Nursery only sells peat-free compost and grows its plants in peat-free compost too.
It will be hosting a public sales open week from Monday, July 6 to Sunday, July 12. The garden centre and wholesale nursery will be open to the public, showcasing everything that is available for sale.
Visit https://wcg.ac.uk/pershorenurseries for more.
