CWS staff and volunteers looked after the shoppers’ storage tents at the recent Ellerslie Flower Show in Christchurch.
Providing storage service for keen shoppers gave CWS a chance to connect with new potential supporters.
Included in the CWS presence was a draw offering one lucky winner a dining voucher to the value of $120 at the popular Rossendale restaurant.  The winner for this draw was Holly Griffin seen in the photo with CWS national director, Pauline McKay.
The Ellerslie Flower Show has been held in Christchurch since 2008 after it was bought from the Auckland organisers to provide a focus event for gardening mad Christchurch.  Pre-quakes Christchurch had a strong identity as the “Garden City” winning an international competition as the top “Garden City of the World” in 1998.
The strong gardening identity has again surfaced in, hopefully, post-quake Christchurch with the city hosting two major floral events per year, the Festival of Flowers and the Ellerslie Flower Show from 6 to 10 March.
For CWS Ellerslie represents a chance to showcase some of their work to a new audience.  Given that many overseas partner projects supported by CWS involve small and large scale gardening it was felt that the Ellerslie attendees would be a “good fit” with CWS.  
People leaving their purchases with CWS at the show paid a gold coin and were given a brochure explaining the work of CWS and asking them to become supporters.   
22 March 2013