An engineering firm which produces grass care systems cut a swathe at a garden machinery show in Windsor after scooping a Heritage Award in commemoration of the life of Edwin Beard Budding, inventor of the lawn mower.

SCH (Supplies) Ltd, based at Holbrook, near Ipswich, took the Outdoor Power Award for Grass Care Systems at Institute of Groundsman’s Saltex 2013 exhibition.

The company, which is 26 years old, employs 20 staff and has a turnover of around £1.3million.

Managing director Andrew Rodwell said: “We are delighted to have received this award for our highly rated grass care systems,’ says SCH’s managing director, Andrew Rodwell. He admitted the going had been tough until recently, but said it was now hard to keep up with demand.

“We had the recession and then several years of poor, wet summers and harsh winters. Sales of garden machinery fell off a cliff so we had to be innovative and stay on our toes, while still being a traditional company with high standards.”

Andrew says that after such testing times, he feels that the economy is finally turning a corner, and adds that the long hot summer has been a great boost for the garden machinery sector.

‘It’s hard keeping up with demand at the moment,’ he says. ‘But we’re managing to get the orders out of the door, and look forward to new challenges for 2014.’