Over 100 invited students and guests attended the recent awards ceremony at CAFRE for part-time amenity horticulture students .  

Special guest Maurice Parkinson of Ballyrobert Cottage Garden and Nursery and former Director of Parks for Belfast City Council drew on his extensive experience to give careers advice to the graduates and also discussed some of the opportunities within the sector.

Mr John Fay, Director of CAFRE, thanked Maurice Parkinson for his advice to the graduates and acknowledged the dedication and hard work required by part-time students in achieving  academic success. Mr Fay went on to thank the many organisations (both private and public) who demonstrtaed their support for life long learning through their attendance at the event.

Mr Fay said, “we are very pleased to have with us representatives from councils, golf clubs and other organisations from around the province. CAFRE and key stakeholders from the amenity horticulture sector represented here today have the shared aim of raising standards of professionalism within the industry.  We at CAFRE have provided training programmes over the years for many amenity horticulture and sports turf businesses in Ulster and we would like to expand on that utilising the various horticultural facilities at Greenmount such as the Greenkeeping and Golf Academy working in partnership with Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) Ulster Branch. One significant outcome from this is that today we are very pleased to have our first two Greenkeeper Cadet graduates, who were financially supported by GUI Bursaries.”

At the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus Martin Fitzpatrick (Lough Erne Golf Club) was awarded the First Overall DARD prize in the Advanced National Certificate Sportsturf programme by John Fay, CAFRE Director. Looking on are his wife Bernie, Maurice Parkinson, centre (Guest Speaker at the event) and CAFRE lecturers Paul Campbell (second from right) and Philip Bankhead (far left).

At the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus Adrian McCullough (Kilkeel) was awarded the GUI Greenkeeping prize for Achievement by Ivor McCandless, Chairman GUI (Ulster Branch). Adrian completed the CAFRE/GUI Cadetship in 2010. Accepting the trophy is Adrian’s mother Adrianne. Looking on are John Fay, CAFRE Director (far right), Maurice Parkinson, centre (Guest Speaker at the event) and CAFRE Grounds Manager Neil McLaughlin (far left).

At the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus Alastair Brown (Dungannon Golf Club) was awarded the Evergreen Lawns trophy and First Overall in the NVQ Level 2 Sportsturf programme by Geoff Connell (centre) of Evergreen Lawns.  Looking on is Alastair’s wife Kathy.

At the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus Suzanne Patman, Belfast City Parks, receives the DARD prize for first overall in the Level 2 NVQ Landscaping course from John Fay CAFRE Director. Looking on are Alyson Campbell (right), Maurice Parkinson, guest speaker (centre) and CAFRE lecturer Johnston Shaw (far left).

John Ingram (second from left, from Craigavon and member of Queen’s University groundstaff)) pictured at the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus, where he received his Level 3 NVQ in Landscaping.  With John are Suzanne Curry (centre), James Ingram (second from right) and CAFRE lecturers Philip Bankhead (far right) and Johnston Shaw (far left).  

Pictured at the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus are William Mills (second left) and Jonathan Moore (third left) from Balmoral Golf Club receiving their Level 2 NVQ in Greenkeeping.   With them are Adrian Morton, head greenkeeper at Balmoral (far left), Dr David Patterson, CAFRE programme manager (far right), Paul Campbell, lecturer (third right) and Dave Meakin, instructor (second right).

Andrew Millar, Royal Portrush Golf Club,  with his Level 2 NVQ certificate in Greenkeeping which he received at the recent CAFRE Amenity Horticulture Awards Ceremony held at Greenmount campus. Looking on are Andrew’s parents and CAFRE lecturer Paul Campbell (far left).  


A section of the guests at the recent Awards Ceremony

CAFRE Director John Fay with Maurice Parkinson (Guest speaker) and Dr Michael Mullan CAFRE

Belfast council staff Alan McFarlane and David Cochrane with Maurice Parkinson (Guest speaker) and BBC prize winning graduate Suzanne Patman

ANC graduate Dominic Mooney and family with Dr Michael Mullan, CAFRE