STAFF at Webbs, the UK's Garden Centre of the Year 2008, celebrated another year of triumph with its own red carpet awards ceremony in Worcestershire.

The WAFTAs - Webbs Awards for Training Achievements - was a celebration of staff and their hard work over the last year in the garden centre at Wychbold, near Droitwich.

About 200 members of staff turned out for the fourth annual ceremony held at the Pear Tree Inn, Smite, to discover who were the stars scooping this year's top awards.

Certificates and prizes were presented to staff to celebrate a wide range of training initiatives and individual and department successes over the last year.

This included Webbs being named as the UK Garden Centre of the Year by the Garden Centre Association, the organisation representing the best garden retailers in Britain, for the second year running.

Special recognition awards were made to Paul Young from Droitwich, who joined the company in 1988, and Cyril Meacham, who started with Webbs in 1991.

Mr Meacham, who lives at Belbroughton, near Broms-grove, also won a new award for Best Colleague of the Year - a title for which he was nominated by collegues.

Employees were also told that each one would have their birthday as a paid day off in 2008 as a reward and a thank you for winning the Garden Centre of the Year title.

Executive chairman Ed Webb said: "We're now up there with a select band of individuals and groups who have achieved something great, not once but twice.

"Reaching the lofty heights of being the best in your field is hard enough, but acheiving it twice takes something really special.

"Winning these awards is about maintaining the standards of detail that we focus on every day. It is not about being judged on one single day. Quite simply you cannot turn on that tap of excellence when the judges arrive.

"It is those standards that serve to build up loyalty and goodwill with customers and ensure the future growth of the business. There is no way that we could have won the GCA award twice without everyone working towards the common goal."