I think we’ve all been more thankful than usual these last few months. Some of it very vocal and well deserved - the clapping, banging, saucepan rattling - for the NHS and other key workers. And some of it more silently for the glorious weather which has surely helped with the strangeness of lockdown. 

Others of us may have been thankful for their garden, their community, their health, their family and all the other personal touches that have buoyed us along these last three months. 

Yes, I am endlessly thankful to all those key workers who have got out there day after day and kept everything going for the rest of us. I’ve been thankful for the weather as I love a bit of sun and it has helped our little family unit enjoy spending so much enforced time together. Gardening, trampolining, tree house building, marshmallow toasting - all much enjoyed activities over the many warm sunny weeks. And I’m also very thankful we live near the coast so we have had a couple of evening outings to feel the sea and sand between our toes. 

But there are a few more ‘Thank yous’ I want to share and put out there. The ‘Thank yous’ to the people that have helped Church Park Flowers stay afloat and rally through some choppy unchartered waters. 

My previous blog spoke of how the business had to adapt and change to the change and adaptions around it. But it couldn’t have done it alone - it needed support, and that support deserves to be recognised. 

So in true Oscar speech fashion, here goes:

I’d just like to start by saying ‘thank you’ to my customers. Over the last eight weeks I have been doing deliveries of bouquets in the area. I’ve had so many more orders than I first anticipated so a huge thank you to those who asked for flowers to be sent. There were ‘thank yous’, ‘thinking of yous’, anniversaries, birthdays and ‘miss you’s. All sent with love and all sent with feeling. Most were from family and friends from afar who wished to be there but couldn’t. But I could. And as much as they were thankful to me I was equally thankful to them for putting their trust in me to portray their message not just in words but in flowers. Thank you. 

Thank you to local funeral businesses and their customers. My previous blog covered that with weddings currently off the agenda I had more time to put to funeral and farewell work. I enjoy funeral work as it is the most personal of all floral creations. So it goes without saying that a heartfelt ‘thank you’ goes to the families that again put their trust in me to create was was needed. Times like this when words are so much more difficult to find and say but colours, scents and combinations can speak volumes. Thank you.

Of course none of the above would have been possible without flowers, and as my cut flower patches have just started to produce some beauties I have needed some extra beautiful British blooms. My supplier did not disappoint. Week after week I would be couriered boxes of wonderfully packaged British grown blooms. Stocks, snapdragons, tulips, alstroemerias, cornflowers, Cornish pinks - all locally grown and in beautiful condition. Thank you. (and thanks too to Ian - the FedEx driver that came every week to my gate carefully delivering my precious boxes!)

But it’s not all ‘thank you’ to those in the physical world that have ordered and enjoyed my real flowers. I don’t need to tell you how important the virtual world has been these last few months. We have all relied on it and you’re reading this now! 

Back in the beginning of lockdown at Easter (I know it seems so long ago!) I put together my first blog and insta story on creating your own spring centrepiece. And so many of you got on board and created and shared your floral arrangements. Thank you. The blog was also shared by local businesses- namely Johns of Instow and HomeSweetHome in Barnstaple - and as always I’m grateful for that support. Thank you

With no weddings and little else going on there has been less to share and shout about on social media. So I dug deep and found a few images I hadn’t shared before. I tried, and failed, to take decent pictures of my bouquet deliveries to share and keep those channels of communication open. So again, thank you to those who liked, commented, shared or even just looked at (just press ‘like’ next time!) because in the words of a big business that resonates to a small business “every little helps”. Thank you. 

Again in Oscar speech style, I should thank my family. You note I said should as I’m not sure how much support there has been amongst the constant feeding, teaching, “mum I’m bored” yells etc etc but I did manage to escape every now and then to the workshop and get a few five minutes peace!

I will leave my final thank you to my brides and grooms of 2020. To all those who have put their wedding plans on hold. Thank you, for being strong and brave. Thank you, for being patient with the world. Thank you, for being patient with me when I forgot to reply to your email! Thank you, for continuing to be a Church Park Flowers bride even if we have to wait that little bit longer.

And then we are back to Rod Stewart to sum up my thoughts on these last few months:

“…fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness, ease my troubles that’s what you do.”

Thank you. 

(Next chapter coming soon!)