Four employees of a Spalding company have been given long service awards by the Royal Horticultural Society.
The quartet who work for Taylors Bulbs all have over 40 years’ experience in the industry.
* Di Beales started working full time for Taylors in February 1983. She has always been renowned as the quickest flower cropper at Taylors – nobody can beat her! Di has been involved in many aspects of Taylors activities from planting the daffodil bulbs from which the flowers are displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show to packing flower bulbs that go to garden retailers nationwide.
* Sue Venni has worked for Taylors for 41 years holding different roles within the horticultural department and has worked very closely with Di all that time.
Sue has more recently become responsible for the field-selection of and the successful bulb harvest of the special daffodil collection, and making sure that 500+ varieties are kept healthy and separate from each other is no mean feat! Unfortunately, Sue could not make the presentation due to ill-health but was able to join the event by video call.
* Kevin Haynes was first employed by Brian Taylor when he left school and has been at Taylors ever since.
He is now Horticultural Operations manager and is responsible for, amongst many other things, overseeing the planting harvesting of all the daffodils grown here in Lincolnshire by the company, both the cut-flowers and the bulbs. Kevin will have clocked up 42 years with Taylors in May 2023.
Not only did he follow in his father’s footsteps in working for Taylors but both of his sons have also worked for Taylors at times.
* John Taylor is a well-known figure in the horticultural industry having worked in it for 56 years; 37 years with Taylors and 19 years previous to that with Geest Horticulture. John started working for Geest in 1966 as Trainee Bulb Manager, joining Taylors in 1986, and has been involved with bulb growing throughout his entire career.
Although now more office- based than previous years in his career, John still walks the fields, inspects the harvest and is regularly to be found either on the trial plot or in the sheds with his hands in a tray of bulbs keeping an eye on bulb quality.
Adam Taylor director, Taylors Bulbs, said: “We are very proud to present these RHS awards in recognition of Di, Sue, Kev and John’s contributions to the horticulture industry.
“What the four of them have achieved is amazing but it is remarkable that they share 160 years of service to Taylors between them and for that we are all very grateful.”
