LANTRA SKILLS AMBASSADOR THRIVES AT CHELSEA

Skills are in the spotlight this week as the ‘horticultural Olympics’ are in full bloom. The prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, which has been taking place for almost a century, recognises horticulture’s greatest talents including this year, Lantra Skills Ambassador Susan Stuart, who helped horticultural therapy charity Thrive win gold and best urban garden.

The winning entry of the urban garden category, called by Thrive ‘The Unexpected Gardener,’ is aimed at the mature gardener who is reluctant to compromise on style or design and yet has less time and energy for gardening. A small national charity that operates in the field of disability and gardening, Thrive provides information and specialist services, training and structured horticultural programmes which help thousands of disabled people. Lantra’s London Partnership Manager, Jonathan Pettit, said: “It’s fantastic to see Susan along with Thrive win such a prestigious award. The garden shows how age or disability need not mean an end to gardening.” UK Skills, the not-for-profit organisation that champions skills and learning for work through competitions and awards, can also boast a Chelsea silver medal for its garden ‘Growing World Class Talent: celebrating the workforce of tomorrow.’ The garden promotes excellence in vocational education and training whilst illustrating how greater investment in skills and development will help lift UK industry out of recession. ENDS Issued by: Lantra Press Office – contact media@lantra.co.uk or call 02476 858 407. Photo of Jonathan Pettit and Susan Stuart is available on request. NOTES TO EDITOR: About Thrive Thrive was set up in 1978 and is a small national charity that operates in the field of disability and gardening. It provides information and specialist services, training and structured horticultural programmes which help thousands of disabled people. With garden projects in Reading and London's Battersea Park, Thrive was set up in 1978 to help disabled people improve their quality of life through horticultural therapy as well as offering practical solutions to help people all over the country rebuild their lives after an accident or illness. About Lantra Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for the environmental and land-based sector, is licensed by the UK government to drive forward the new skills, training and business development agenda for the sector. Lantra represents 17 industries and 1.5 million workers and volunteers in agricultural crops, agricultural livestock, animal care, animal technology, aquaculture, environmental conservation, equine, farriery, fencing, fisheries management, floristry, game and wildlife management, land-based engineering, landscape, production horticulture, trees and timber and veterinary nursing. For more information see www.lantra.co.uk. About UK Skills UK Skills is a not for profit organisation. UK Skills champions skills and learning for work through the delivery of innovative, high profile competitions and awards which showcase excellence, and demonstrate how exceptional performance improves individual and organisational success. Established in 1990, we have worked to raise the profile of skills in the UK and oversee the UK’s premier set of skills competitions, WorldSkills UK. We also manage the UK team entry to EuroSkills and WorldSkills, the biggest skills competition in the world. Most recently we spearheaded the bid to bring WorldSkills to London in 2011. The WorldSkills London 2011 Competition will be a truly global showcase for skills and young people from across the world. Alongside skills competitions we also manage the National Training Awards which celebrate exemplary training in the workplace; coordinating the awards, managing famously robust judging processes and organising celebration events across the UK. UK Skills works on behalf of Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to shine a spotlight on those who have made a difference to their organisation through training.

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