Greenfi ngers is a small charity dedicated to supporting children and families in hospices through the creation of magical gardens for children’s hospices around the UK. These much needed gardens enable children and families to spend precious time together outside in the fresh air, away from the bedside. There are currently 49 children’s hospices across the country, with two more planned for 2014. Greenfi ngers has created 40 unique gardens so far!

Greenfi ngers is evolving and has launched the Rosy Cheeks Appeal together with a new Fundraising Committee. I am delighted to be part of this newly formed committee which is working with the charity to raise £750,000 over two years with a target of creating at least ten more gardens.The charity runs in a cost effective way, all staff are part time and all Committee members and Trustees are unpaid. Additionally, through its own gardening connections the charity sources some of the garden elements as Gifts in Kind which

helps keep the charity’s costs contained. Currently £3 out of every £4 raised goes into the gardens.

Will you please consider making Greenfi ngers your charity, and think how you may be able to raise some money to support this wonderful cause?Children spend time in children’s hospices for a range of reasons including: respite; pain management; therapies; counselling; special clubs; emergency; end of life care.

The gardens vary dramatically according to each hospice’s own needs, and the cost of a garden will range from anything between £25,000 - £50,000. Some hospices will have a need for more than one garden which is why Greenfi ngers still has a lot of work ahead. The gardens may incorporate a play garden; wheelchair adapted swings and slides etc; sensory area where children can look at birds, insects, butterfl ies, squirrels and enjoy colour, smell, texture and sound outside in the fresh air; memorial areas, which are essential places for children and parents to remember a child who has died, children are remembered with beautifully named pebbles around

water features. Every outside space is designed carefully recognising many essential elements of working in partnership with children’s hospices and remembering that every child is special and every day is precious.

What I am delighted to say is that there is NO shortage of hospice volunteers helping to maintain the gardens once they are built! However Greenfi ngers DOES need more involvement in the fundraising to enable more gardens to be built. If you would like to fi nd out more about the charity, or how you can be involved and help please don’t hesitate to contact me on 07785 732460, simon@quintons.co.uk or contact Debs or Briony at Greenfi ngers on 01494 674749, briony@greenfi ngerscharity.org.uk Deborah@greenfi ngerscharity.org.uk

Thank you

SIMON E QUINTON SMITHBSc FRICS MI Hort

COME & MEET US...

GLEE September 15th – 17th Hall 5 G28

FOUR OAKS September 3rd - 4th Stand D87

w w w. q u i n t o n e d w a r d s . c o . u kBartholomew House, 38 London Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 1JX t +44 (0) 1635 551441 f +44 (0) 1635 551440 e sales@quintons.co.uk

QUINTESSENTIALQUINTON EDWARDS MARKETING REPORT AUTUMN 2013

GREENFINGERS CHARITY CREATING MAGICAL GARDENS FOR CHILDREN’S HOSPICES

Find us now on...www.quintonedwards.co.uk

Quinton Edwards and Quintons are on the Bank of England’s panel of business contacts and provides information on commercial activity to Savills Research.

Because of this, we receive monthly bulletins on the economy and the headline points from the most recent monthly bulletins are as follows:-

• Retail sales and consumer services have grown slightly over the fi rst six months of 2013.

• The housing market continues to strengthen.

• Manufacturing exports continue to grow at a moderate rate.

• Manufacturing output for the domestic market has increased a little this year.

• Modest growth in business services turnover has continued.

• The annual rate of decline in construction output has eased as house building has increased.

• Corporate credit conditions continue to improve gradually.

• Employment intentions have edged higher in recent months.

• Labour costs for employees have grown at modest but stable rates.

• Infl ation material costs have fallen to low levels.

• The rate of consumer price infl ation has been unchanged.

• Total commercial development activity index, a net balance monitoring the overall performance of the U.K. commercial sector rose from 5.8% in May to 18.9% in June, a sharp expansion, one that was the fastest in six years.

• Optimism was signalled by commercial developers for the ninth consecutive month in June, the total level of commercial activity across the U.K. expanded sharply in June and at plus 18.9% the net balance reached a six year peak in June.

• Retail and leisure projects also expanded in both the private and public sectors in June and growth of private, retail and leisure work accelerated to the quickest since March 2007.

• Private new build projects increased sharply in June, being at a six year high.

• All the above indicators are pointing at increased activity across virtually all sectors which hopefully is promising for the economy and the country for the rest of this year and for the years to come.

The Demographic Gold Mine

The number of retired people in the U.K. will increase by 29% between 2007 and 2017. Currently the over 50’s make up 38% of the population but have 60% of the savings and 80% of the disposable wealth and there are more over 50’s shopping online than the under 30’s and the direction of demographic change suggests that this gap can only widen.

The U.K. is witnessing the march of a new type of retiree as the fi rst post war “baby boomers” pass the old default retirement age of 65. 2011 data showed 754,800 people aged 64 in England and Wales and almost 6.5 million are turning 65 over the next decade compared with 5.2 million in the previous decade.

23% of 65-74 year olds were still wage earners in December 2012 compared with 18% in February 2010. 55% of 55-64 year olds are still in employment compared with 41% in February 2010.

The typical over 55 now has an income of £1,444 each month along with £14,544 in savings (December 2012) compared with a monthly income of £1,239 and savings of £11,590 in February 2010.

Despite 80% being concerned about rising living costs in the U.K. over 55’s are determined to enjoy the benefi ts of extending their working lives with 44% planning to use their extra time in retirement to travel more and 42% are focused on spending more time in their garden.

They also have more philanthropic intent, 66% of over 55’s would be interested in carrying out more charity work or volunteering once they have retired.

The most common motivation is to give something back to the community and to stay active by getting out of the house.

We are not alone, it is predicted that by 2030 over half the population of Europe will be 50+. Have you spotted the opportunity of selling to the growth market? Brand marketers are terrifi ed of association of

ageing, although only 10% of new cars in the U.S. are bought by people under 34; it is younger faces and lifestyle that populate their marketing.

It might be that re-addressing this balance is a route to success. In Tokyo where the age bubble is more developed, the shopping district Sugamo is focused solely on the elderly.

How many “baby boomers” are you employing, are you encouraging them to bring their friends into your business.

Are they interested in raising money for Greenfi ngers or for your chosen charities?

The other opportunity is online retail. Is your web site designed with more elderly users in mind? How do their requirements differ? Retirees will make up the biggest bulge age group in the U.K. over the next few years and they have been using the internet since before they retired. Meeting their changing economic needs early will be key.

THE ECONOMY

IS 60 THE NEW 40 AND ARE YOU ATTRACTING THEM INTO YOUR BUSINESSES?

When running our businesses many people place a lot of emphasis and time on creating the right strategy and because we become experts in our fi eld, we think we know the rules for success.However, six years ago Nokia, Europe’s most recognised brand, was the expert on mobile phones with 40% market share and 437,000,000 items shipped. But the iPhone released in June 2007 broke all the rules and forever changed the mobile phone market.

Other manufacturers such as Motorola and mobile analysts and pundits from Silicon Valley to the city failed to anticipate Apple’s impact on the mobile device industry. The rules changed.

Rules will change. The only constant is randomness reigns.

You can stand apart by capturing the unexpected, make unpredictability your friend because if you don’t you may miss a chance opportunity that could be the turning point for your business.

Here are seven ideas:-

1 Take Your Eye Off the Ball In an unpredictable world not only can

the rules change but they can change very quickly, if you don’t take your eye off the ball you could be pursuing a plan that could become outdated or one that is so obvious that your competitor is doing the same.

Starbucks would not have happened if Howard Schultz had not when walking in Milan to an international houseware show noticed an espresso bar and tasted his fi rst caffè latte. He realised that Starbucks, then selling coffee equipment and coffee by the bag, had it all wrong, coffee was meant to be a communal experience and this took Starbucks down a new path.

2 Use Intersectional Thinking In 2003 Lebanese/Australian designer

Aheda Zanetti combined two very different concepts; to create a piece of clothing that had a profound impact on Muslim women.

She observed the impracticality of wearing the Islamic hijab and veil to play sport.

Spending time on the beach she created a two piece head to toe swimsuit that became known as the burquini which is now distributed worldwide and is worn by Muslim and non Muslim women alike for modesty as well as protection against the sun.

A willingness to combine ideas from diverse cultures, fi elds and disciplines is what is called intersectional thinking.

Pablo Picasso created over 50,000 works of art, Albert Einstein published hundreds of papers, the Virgin Group launched over 400 ventures, Rovio developed 51 games before it scored one of the best sellers of all time, Angry Birds.

They all placed many bets and the success of even just one is often enough. For the little known Finnish company the wild success of just one game led to a valuation approaching £5.6 billion in 2012.

4 Keep Your Bets as Small as Possible Given the high failure rate of new ideas,

Apple has a 90% failure rate in creating products, smaller bets will allow more opportunities to get lucky and put less drain on your resources.

The Ice Hotel started out as a small bet, it began with an ice sculpture then became a large igloo and ended up as an ice hotel and the 22nd ice hotel is under construction.

5 Keep Your Eyes Open to Surprise You Tube was not a $1.6 billion idea

in its fi rst iteration, it started as a video dating service. Pfi zer started out developing Viagra as a heart medicine.

Sometimes the success of a bet is not exactly straightforward, sometimes it is a surprising result, are you willing to abandon your original idea in pursuit of a possibly better one?

6 Double Your Effort When it becomes clear that a bet has

taken off double your effort, Pfi zer set out not to develop Viagra but a heart medicine for angina. Research noticed an anomaly whilst testing the drug, male subjects repeatedly asked for more of the drug even though they showed no improvement in their heart condition; they looked more closely and saw a new possibility.

The researchers could have ignored the result and abandoned the drug for lack of results but instead they doubled their efforts, created a new category of drugs, the fastest selling drug ever, Viagra, and catapulted a small company into one of the top pharmaceutical fi rms in the world.

7 Just Put it Out There If you have an opportunity do something,

do anything, put it out there otherwise you are not giving it a chance to be successful.

Stephanie Meyer awoke from a vivid dream and began to write having never written before. After two months of writing everyday she had a 498 page book about forbidden love, teenage angst and vampires. She sent her manuscript to 15 agents, one expressed interest and signed her, Twilight, one of the best sellers of all time.

After reading Meyer’s saga, Erica Leonard James published an episodic Twilight fan fi ctional piece which was eventually developed into 50 Shades of Grey, the best selling book of all time in the U.K.

Both these authors put their ideas out there.

SEIZE OPPORTUNITY

Quinton Edwards have teamed up with customer-funded wine retailer Naked Wines to offer our clients an exclusive voucher offer. £60 off your fi rst order of £99.99 or more. Naked Wines funds independent winemakers from around the world, in return for exclusive wines at wholesale prices - so a little bit different from the status quo! They offer next working day delivery as standard - and will give you all your money back if the wines aren’t for you. To claim your offer log on to www.nakedwines.com/quintons or call 01603 281800. Enjoy!

£60 off your first order of £99.99 or more. To redeem this voucher visit the URL and register the code and password. Valid until 30/9/2014.

Or call us: 01603 281 800

For UK residents aged 18 or over. Your voucher can be used against your first order of£99.99 or more. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Full terms andconditions are available at www.nakedwines.com

www.nakedwines.com/quintons

VINEYARDQUINTONS60

Simon was asked by the UK based FutureSense Foundation to travel with them to Battanbang in Cambodia to design a fruit and vegetable garden for the local Buddhist Monastery on the basis that the monks do not feed themselves (they are fed by the local population who when working, live on less than a US$ a day) but who have a large area of land and large pond within the grounds of the monastery.The land is fully enclosed by a high wall, had been uncultivated for many years but benefi ts from a large pond which allows for irrigation during the dry times of the year but where part of the land fl oods during the wet time of the year.Simon travelled through the agricultural

areas around Battanbang and met with farmers to understand the crops that they grew, the need for irrigation etc. and researched into how long part of the land fl ooded for and how deep.The garden has been designed to incorporate some relatively mature and

young fruit trees to include mango, jack fruit, longan, orange, rose apple and others, with low growing coconut palms and bananas being planted along the edge of the wallsA rotation system for the vegetable crops has been planned and a nursery area designed where a lot of the plants can be grown from seed or cuttings.Plants to be grown include varieties common in Europe such as tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, chillies, potatoes, courgettes, onions, etc. but a number of vegetables which do not even have English names were being sold in the local markets and will be included.Due to the low cost of products in Cambodia (other than wood which is incredibly expensive because there are no trees, having all been cut down), the equipment is very cost effective to purchase to include pumps, irrigation pipes, water containers, tools etc.The initial ground works; planting of trees etc. will be undertaken by gap year students working with FutureSense with a gardener being employed on a full-time basis to tend the vegetable garden, pick the fruit and vegetables etc. An experienced gardener can be employed for 20 US$ a month.This garden will assist in feeding the monks and reduce the fi nancial hardship on the local population.Wat Sam San monastery is in the village of Don Kor in the Battambang district of Cambodia. There are 20 monks living here along with two nuns and 15 high school students. The monastery accepts children from low income families or orphans to live free and to attend local schools. The families feel safe knowing the monks are caring for their children and this allows many children to complete their studies.Simon visited the monastery with FutureSense who send volunteers to help with the maintenance of the premises, teaching English to the monks and organising extracurricular activities for the local village children and helping with childcare of the students that live at the monastery.

GARDENS CENTRES, PLANT CENTRES AND NURSERIES SOLD OR ACQUIRED OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS

2012 1 May Plant Centre Dorset2 August Plant Centre Leicestershire3 September Plant Centre Hants4 November Plant Centre Herefordshire5 December Nursery South Wales

2013 6 February Garden Centre Norfolk7 February Garden Centre Warwickshire8 March Nursery Hants9 March Nursery Cambridgeshire

10 April Aquatic & Garden Centre Devon11 April Garden Centre & Farm Shop Lincolnshire12 April Garden Centre (Acquisition) Surrey13 May Pet & Garden Centre Herts14 May Garden Centre Lancashire15 May Garden Centre (Acquisition) Lancashire

UNDER OFFER 16 Completion due August Garden Centre Kent17 Completion due August Garden Centre Buckinghamshire18 Completion due August Garden Centre Cambridgeshire19 Completion due September Garden Centre Home Counties20 Completion due September Garden Centre Lincolnshire

SUMMARY 6 Garden Centres Sold2 Garden Centres Acquired

4 Plant Centres Sold 2 Nurseries Sold

1 Nursery Let5 Garden Centres Under Offer

Within the last full fi nancial year Simon Quinton Smith undertook 92 valuations totalling £153,000,000. He has noticed a large number of under-valuations being carried out often by very large and well respected fi rms of Chartered Surveyors.

If you require a valuation, insist on using a Chartered Surveyor with detailed industry

knowledge. Simon has also had notable success for both landlords and tenants for rent reviews, lease renewals and rating appeals. Simon’s in depth knowledge of the industry, of business in general and his skills as an accredited expert witness usually guarantees success.

DESIGNING A FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN – BATTANBANG MONASTERY, CAMBODIA

Extracts taken from– The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity - Frans Johansson & Aviva Retirement Report 2012

w w w. q u i n t o n e d w a r d s . c o . u kBartholomew House, 38 London Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 1JX t +44 (0) 1635 551441 f +44 (0) 1635 551440 e sales@quintons.co.uk