BUSINESSMAN Peter Wood has sold his Fenland nursery – one of the country s biggest- to a young grower who joined the company 12 years ago. Since then Wayne Eady has risen through the ranks of R.Delamore Ltd at Wisbech St Mary becoming a main board directo

BUSINESSMAN Peter Wood has sold his Fenland nursery - one of the country's biggest- to a young grower who joined the company 12 years ago.

Since then Wayne Eady has risen through the ranks of R.Delamore Ltd at Wisbech St Mary becoming a main board director four years ago and now the owner.

Mr Eddy, 36, said an announcement was made to staff at the firm's new multi million pound site last Thursday when it was also disclosed that Mr Wood would stay on for a transitional period.

Mr Wood, 50, said he had sold up as he was "looking for a bit of a change of direction in my life. I think it is a strong endorsement of the business and of Wayne that he has been able to attract the finance to be able to take over the business."

He added: "I shall be going to work for Wayne as long as he wants me, though I shall have a much reduced role. I am not going to be a director or shareholder. It is a time of life thing; I felt it time to move onto other things."

Mr Eady, of Gedney Dyke, said he had always been interested in horticulture from an early ago and had previously worked for a Spalding company.

In recent years he became Delamore's main grower "and I started to take on responsibilities for supervision and management. Clearly I was more interested in taking an active management role, and so was invited to join the board."

Mr Eady worked as project manager to lead the small team that up rooted the company from Sutton Road, Wisbech, to its state of the art new nursery set in 19 acres at Wisbech St Mary.

Mr Eady said the move to new premises had made the company a major player in the nursery world and would help fuel the company's expansion: in 10 of the last 12 years Delamore's had seen a growth in sales and with a full time staff of 100 (doubled by seasonal workers); he looked to a promising future.

Delamore is the leading British grower of young plants including fuchsias, geraniums and lavenders. Each year it grows around 100 million plants which are supplied to thousands of nursery and garden centres through the UK and Ireland.