Richard Matthews

Richard Matthews, Exclusive Consultant for David Halsall International & Director of Gardenex

After 10 years brewing beer for Guinness both in Park Royal and in Jamaica, I joined Hopwood Kay Hopwood Ltd, manufacturers of Tuff-Link garden products as Group Commercial Director in 1978. I became Managing Director in 1980 and merged the three elements of the group into one company under the banner of Tuff-Link Ltd. With the opportunity for sales growth in export markets we enhanced our export activities so that they eventually contributed to almost 25% of our turnover.

Exhibiting at Cologne, Amsterdam, Paris, Chicago and many other shows brought me into close contact with Gardenex who organised so much so well for small and medium sizes companies. This interest in the value of exporting led to me starting an export consultancy in 1993 after leaving Tuff-Link. This was quite short-lived as following some consultancy advice I was asked if I would be prepared to work with major toy distributor Halsall International Ltd to set up and head up a new garden products division in 1994 known as Simtree. After 6 years, Simtree was sold to Spread Garden Supplies and in 2000 I resumed consultancy, working with companies like Bosmere, Honeysuckle, Betagrow, Pet & Garden, and principally Halsall. Since 2005 I have chosen to work exclusively for Halsall not only selling toys and gifts into garden centres, but also helping to develop their new Pagoda Garden Furniture division.

In 1982 I joined the Board (Council of Management in those days) of Gardenex Ltd and have been a board member ever since with two periods as Vice-Chairman and one two and a half year stint as Chairman from June 2002 . I was opted on to the Board of Inter Garden Promotions, the company that previously ran the Glee exhibition in the late 1980s and remained on it until the exhibition was sold to Emap (TPS) in 1994. In 2002 I joined the Glee Steering Committee as a representative of Gardenex and am currently serving on the new Glee Advisory Board.

I had been exhibiting at Glee with Tuff-Link continuously from 1978 to 1992 and then  with Halsall International Ltd from 1994 to date (almost 30 years!). During that lengthy period the exhibition has changed and grown enormously. The acquisition of Glee by Emap has resulted in the show becoming even more well presented than before and in my view it is the most glossy and comfortable (in the best senses of these words) garden market exhibition that I know. It has had to deal with the difficult challenges in recent years of continuing to attract exhibitors despite the ever increasing pressures on manufacturers marketing budgets. It is a “must do” exhibition for all serious garden market place manufacturers and also buyers and this mutual perceived need is what fuels the exhibition’s growth. The product categories have been expanded to reflect the diversity of product now being offered by garden centres and indeed all the other types of retailer. The International status of the show has increased, particularly in recent years with the ever improving International Buyers facility run and organised by Gardenex, which provides the best welcome and comfort for overseas buyers of any comparable show and facilitates the initial stages of International trade which is so important to many exhibitors and enhances the show’s reputation with buyers worldwide.

The role of the Advisory Board is valued by Emap Connect in that it provides the opportunity for corrective and reflective action to ensure that the exhibition continues to be relevant to the trade exhibitors and indeed buyers . Emap Connect is a very effective commercial operator and has handled Glee extremely well during their twelve years of stewardship, but there is a need to balance commercially sound actions, with an understanding of the needs and concerns of exhibitors and buyers. There is no compulsion for Emap Connect to act on the advice given by the trade associations represented on the Glee Advisory Board, but the fact that they always listen and usually heed the suggestions is a major contributor to the success of Glee so far, and to what I believe will be an even more buoyant exhibition in the years to come.  

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