Lots of industry association touchpoints at imminent Spring Fair
In what she describes as a “bittersweet moment” Adriana Lovesy has resigned as membership and marketing manager of the GCA to pursue her own dreams, after a very successful three years in the role.
Formerly a GCA council member, Adriana took up the association position in May 2022 on a part-time basis while also running Mrs Lovesy, her own greeting card publishing business, and has been involved in various initiatives including GCA Local get-togethers, Coffee Morning Meetings and Lunch & Learn online programmes.

Adriana said her decision to give up the job was a difficult one as “the GCA has played a significant role in my journey within the greeting card industry, and I’m a strong advocate for the important work the association does”.
She is intending to retain her contacts with the greeting card industry in the next chapter of her working life, telling PG Buzz: “I’m excited for the future and look forward to new opportunities ahead.”
Showing her gratitude for everything Adriana has done with the GCA activities, CEO Amanda Fergusson commented: “I have so enjoyed working with Adriana for the three years she has been at the GCA. The council members and I would like to thank her for all her hard work and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.”
Work is now underway to find Adriana’s replacement as the GCA is recruiting, and asks that anyone interested in this “fun, flexible, dynamic role” should contact amanda@gca.cards or speak to president Darren Cave, of UK Greetings, or vice-president Karen Wilson, of Paper Salad.

While Adriana is not able to make Spring Fair at Birmingham’s NEC, from Sunday to Wednesday, 2-5 February, Amanda will be there as will the council members as the GCA will have a sizeable presence in and around the show.
There is a GCA Lounge at the back of Hall 3, which is open to all – you won’t miss it as there will be a giant card featuring a design from The Art File and cardboard post box both created by N Smith.
As part of the #Cardmitment campaign and to join in the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of Spring Fair, the GCA will be encouraging visitors to select a free greeting card from the display, write it and pop it in the post box, with postage covered by The Art File.
The GCA will also be providing a free Spring Season Toolkit for retailers attending Spring Fair, with assets to promote all the key spring card-giving occasions both in-store and online, featuring graphics by Wendy Jones-Blackett.

The Spring Retailer Packs, which have kindly been produced by Graphite Creative, include:
- A3 Posters: One each for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, and Father’s Day. The posters will be folded in half.
- POS Tent Cards: One each for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, and Father’s Day.
- Double-sided printed A5 #Cardmitment information leaflet.
The packs are available from GCA members exhibiting at Spring Fair, including Paper Salad (3R10), Ling Design (3L10-M11), Cardology (3R02), Raspberry Blossom (3S25) and Danilo (3M20).
Even more importantly, everyone will be urged to sign the petition urging for parliamentary scrutiny before any decision is made to change Royal Mail’s delivery service.
Every card stand in Hall 3 will have a flier which will include a QR code enabling easy access to the petition. As of today, 31 January, over 5,500 signatures have been collected, which means it is over the halfway mark to necessitate a government response – if 100,000 signatures can be collected, the matter would be considered for debate by MPs.