Our Community
We believe that our garden centres should be at the absolute heart of the local community. After all, we provide a lovely plant filled environment for people to wander around, and our Café Bars are a very pleasant place to meet friends and family – so we can really be a community hub for people of all ages.
We enjoy the support of local people and so it is only right that we should contribute to the locality. Therefore, we support and participate in many local activities and events such as ‘In Bloom’ competitions, the Farnham Carnival, hosting an annual Rose Show at our Shepperton centre, supplying plants for the locks on the Thames, not to mention lots of local school and village fetes and many other local causes from hospices to local planting initiatives.
We love having local school children come and visit us to learn more about gardening and get inspired. We’ve also donated and helped plant daffodil bulbs with the council in various local parks, to bring a splash of colour that can be enjoyed by lots of local people when they bloom each year in springtime.
Local Charity of the Year
Each of our garden centres selects their own charity of the year, which is a local charity that is often close to many of our hearts. Each centre works closely with their chosen charity to support their wonderful work in the local community, as well as raising awareness and money for them. In 2023 we raised over £23,000 for our local charities, primarily from special fundraising events, our Christmas grottos and from customers putting money into collection pots at Squire’s.
Details of which charity each centre supports, can be seen on each centre’s pages of our website.
Love Where You Live
Our Love Where You Live programme supports the work of gardening projects within communities close to our centres. It seeks to assist community gardening projects that educate, grow produce, or provide health and wellbeing benefits through horticulture.
Nine groups were presented with their awards this year (2024) totalling £5,500, comprising of Squire’s vouchers, so they can choose plants, tools, and other gardening supplies. Awards will not only give valuable financial support but also practical advice from Squire’s horticulturalists to assist them in making a major step forward within the locality they serve.
Love Where you Live Award Recipients;
• The Therapy Garden, Normandy – supported by Squire’s Badshot Lea
• Badshot Lea Community Garden – supported by Squire’s Badshot Lea
• Farncombe Community Garden – supported by Squire’s Milford
• Surrey Care Trust – supported by Squire’s Reigate
• The Peace Garden Volunteers, Pinner – supported by Squire’s Stanmore
• Teddington Library Community Garden – supported by Squire’s Twickenham
• Merrow Community Garden – supported by Squire’s West Horsley
• Horsell Residents’ Association – supported by Squire’s Woking
• Wokingham in Need (Wokingham Community Hospital) – supported by Squire’s Wokingham
Projects will culminate at the end of July, when award recipients will report back on their achievements.
Our applications for 2025 will open in January.
As a business we are part of and serve the local community, so we will continue to work hard to provide the best quality plants and products, as well as getting involved in projects that benefit the whole community.
