A RICH TRADITION
Andy and Helen Wall, the owners of Port Sunlight Garden Centre have a rich tradition in working with the land, which in Helen's case, can be traced right back to 1640, with one Richard Wilkinson, a farmer in the Dales.

The Wilkinsons moved from the Dales to Liverpool before the First World War, two of Helen's great grandfathers were cow-keepers at this time. This evolved into a family butchering business in 1919, located in the Aigburth area. One of these, Matthew and his sons, Michael and John ran the butchers, until, due to the pressures of meat rationing and a tradition of growing both vegetables and flowers, bade them change the nature of the business closer to it's present course, nursery and garden centre 'M & J Wilkinson'.

The Aigburth Hall site had been run as a nursery before their ownership, but a lot of hard work was needed to bring it up to the level of their expectations. Three of Michael's sons, Arthur, Stan and Norman worked in various capacities within the business. When John sadly passed on in 1953, Stan joined his father in the renamed 'M & S Wilkinson'.

Many plots of land were in use around the Aigburth area, for growing a wide variety of plants (see our Aigburth page for more details >>), but with the pressure of housing, many of these ceased to be used, so maintaining things required another site a little further afield.

1966 saw Stan Wilkinson set up at Raby on the Wirral, moving here with his wife Judy, and their four children. Once again the new site was a wilderness to be tamed and nurtured.

Some of of the children followed in the steps of their predecessors, one working within the nursery, and Helen, who set off to further the family business by studying.

The then Helen Wilkinson met Andrew Wall at the Welsh College of Horticulture, where Helen studied and obtained a National Diploma in Floristry and Flower Production & Andrew studied for an Advanced National Certificate in Landscaping.

After graduating they married and moved to the Raby Nursery. They had four children and helped develop the business over the next few years.

In 1995 the 'Green Hand Nursery' was taken over, renaming it Port Sunlight Garden Centre. This is now their main business. Helen and Andy are proud to be celebrating their tenth anniversary with the site this year.

They are focused on the current upgrade of Standards, Image and Services provided to the local community and other valued customers at both Port Sunlight and Aigburth, Liverpool.