Former Heighley Gate man cultivates blossoming new business

A former Northumberland garden centre proprietor is cultivating a blossoming new career in photography, five years after selling up.

Chris Lishman, whose family owned and ran the Heighley Gate Garden Centre near Morpeth, is developing a photograph business.

Chris’ family ran the garden centre for 45 years before selling to a national operator, the Garden Centre Group.

His work recently helped business advisers UNW to add a statement wall to its new bespoke meeting room facilities.

The 46-year-old, who studied Commercial Photography Practice at Leeds Metropolitan University for three years following the Heighley Gate sale, also supplies postcards and greetings cards of the black and white panoramic image for UNW’s clients to take away.

Chris said: “We sold the garden centre because we had been actively pursued by a large, national chain. As a family, we would have been foolish not to consider it and given the recent economic climate I certainly think we made the right decision in deciding to sell.

“I had two options at that stage; either to study for an MBA at Durham University or to pursue something I was passionate about but didn’t know a lot about. I decided to go with the latter.

“When you see your work in print, like on the UNW wall, it really gives you a buzz and makes you so pleased you decided to follow a passion.”

Chris supplies greetings cards of local images in several small retail outlets, including the Holy Island Post Office, The Links Gallery in Whitley Bay and T&G Allan in Morpeth.

The former rugby captain has been photographing the Newcastle Falcons this season and is also breaking into tourism photography with several commissions for chalet, villa and hotel photography abroad.

UNW managing partner Andrew Wilson said: “We advise lots of the region’s entrepreneurs on their accounting issues but it’s nice to work with two of the region’s small businesses on this purely creative project, which adds an eye catching local focal point to our new reception.”

UNW’s project manager Julie Paddon, who was responsible for the delivery of the ground floor office suite and the expansion of UNW’s capacity in Citygate, said: “We were keen to bring some vibrancy to our reception area and Chris’ image and The Rip’s print capability delivered an outcome we are delighted with.”

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