Special guest Rory O’Connor grabs a selfie with staff at the Lord Bagenal 
Georgina and Chris Stynes
The Doyle family – Barry, Lynda, Rachel, Frank, Fergal and Kim
Barry and Lynda Doyle
Rachel Doyle, along with her sons Fergal and Barry, presents the Overall Employee of the Year Award to Pierce Carpenter at the Arboretum’s employee awards night in the Lord Bagenal Hotel
Photos: michaelorourkephotography.ie
Fergal and Barry Doyle present the Customer Service Award Carlow to Laura Coogan
Rachel Doyle presents the Special Recognition Award to Tommy Payne
New Employee of the Year’ award-winner Philip Healy
Larry Hickey, Lorna Murphy, Martina Lawlor, Aoife Byrne and Michael Smyth
Pamela Byrne with Marian and Donal Nolan
Award-winners pictured at the Arboretum Employee of the Year Awards in the Lord Bagenal Hotel in Leighlinbridge: (front) Laura Coogan (Customer Service Carlow), Pierce Carpenter (Overall Employee of the Year), Rachel Doyle, Des White (Customer Service Kilquade) and Tommy Payne (Special Recognition); (back) guest speaker Rory O’Connor, Barry Doyle, Sarah Parker (New Employee Kilquade), Philip Healy (New Employee Carlow), Amy Dowd (Team Player Kilquade), Sarah Morris (Team Player Carlow), Fergal Doyle and Barry Gardner
Sinead Raftery, Áine Lyng and and Sarah Hickey
Padhraic Collins, Eve Molloy, Martin Clarke, Megan Meaney, Lauryn Brooks and David and Michelle Murphy
Ross Brennan and Gabija Doynlaite
Emer Aughney, Ria Murphy-Knox, Mark Wynne, Joanne Comerford, Holly Tucker, Moya Jordan, Ava Brennan and Rebecca Sinnott
By Suzanne Pender
THE ARBORETUM Garden Centre enjoyed a night of celebration and an opportunity to honour what makes the award-winning centre the best in the country – its wonderful team. The garden centre held its employee awards night in the Lord Bagenal Hotel recently, welcoming staff from its two outlets in Leighlinbridge and Kilquade, Co Wicklow.
“We haven’t had our annual awards since the end of January 2020 and we all know what happened then, so it was great to have them back,” said Fergal Doyle, co-owner and CCO at the Arboretum.
“Our operations manager Barry Gardener did a fantastic job as MC and we also welcomed comedian Rory O’Connor of Rory’s Stories as our keynote speaker, who was incredible.”
Rory entertained and inspired all in equal measure with his story of triumph over addiction, gambling and low self-esteem – a very powerful and memorable address.
On the night, the Arboretum announced its overall Employee of the Year Award, which was won by Pierce Carpenter, assistant store manager at Arboretum Leighlinbridge. The Carlow native has made a big impact in a relatively short time with the company and was a very popular winner on the night.
Other local award winners were Laura Coogan, who received the Best Customer Service Award, Sarah Doran, who won Outstanding Service Award, recently retired Tommy Payne, who won a Special Recognition Award, and Philip Healy, winner of the Best New Employee of the Year Award.
The Arboretum also took the opportunity to update the team on the Arboretum Academy, a bespoke training and development initiative that encompasses an induction programme for new starters and a certified course for managers and prospective managers in the business.
