...a few days away raising money for charity...

It has certainly been an unusual few weeks but at last I was able to take a few days off with the family and get down to Cornwall.

Apart from the relaxation and getting away from the business for a short, the main reason for the trip was to hold a charity fundraising event that had been wonderfully organised by my Mum in the village of Mawnan Smith just outside Falmouth.

On November 12th I fly off to Morocco to take part in a 100km challenge that will see a group of like minded people running 25km each day for 4 days to raise valuable funds for Motor Neurone Disease Association.

The event last Saturday was a demonstration/presentation on Chelsea Flower Show and my experiences of the world renowned Horticultural Show. I was welcomed by nearly 50 people and the evening itself raised over £400 for the charity...which is excellent!

My thanks go out to my Mum who did a fantastic job in getting the whole thing off the ground, to Trebah Gardens who allowed to forage in the fantastic selection of leaves and foliage and also to my 5 year old son who did an amazing job of calling the raffle - I had no idea he was such a natural on stage!

On return from the mini break I am delighted to find that the new shop sign in Wimborne has finally gone up! It looks great in it's chocolate brown and pistachio colours and will surely put us on the map a bit more within the town.

The next task for us is to organise and promote our OPEN EVENING at the Wimborne shop. I am sending out invitations this week and next and I really hope that people will appreciate what we are doing in the new premises. I have got some wonderful new products on order and will theme the shop in to create an early festive feel. We will have some give aways, a prize draw, special offers and mini demonstrations - oh... and a free welcome drink!

So a relatively quiet week beckons until this weekend when I will demonstrating for Interflora at their Creative Event in Taunton. Will have to get my Christmas head on for that one!

... and then all I have is the small matter of running 100km in Morocco before the real Christmas build starts later in the month... which begs the question - When is the right time to theme our shops for Christmas?