I hope you had a great New Year celebrating - I’m in hiding, keeping germ free as my older daughter after her bout of recent illness has surgery scheduled for January 10th. However, I must say it’s been rather lovely to be quiet after the manic December I’ve had and wonderful not to to be at M&S loading bays at 6.30 am for a while! So I’ve been using the time to think about our achievements and failures and my future requirements for 2022. In 2021 we started our zero waste markets which have been fun but incredibly difficult logistically and I really couldn’t have done it without the kindness of Bob Burstow from whom we collected the market stalls and Theo (from Theo’s Cafe) and latterly the Ellis family who helped with their transportation to and from the shop. The market was an idea that Theo and I dreamed up during lockdown when things were much quieter and when no-one could’ve predicted just how busy we’d become so we’ll continue with them but less frequently in 2022 more like quarterly. I’m delighted that I’ve inspired people to become more crafty and that the market provided them with an outlet for their creativity. In other news our appeal for warm winter coats has led to a staggering 280 coats being donated and me creating a great working relationship with Barnet’s Food Hub in East Barnet’s old library. In terms of my future requirements I urgently need a volunteer driver for a Thursday afternoon who can deliver flower arrangements to our weekly subscribers in East Barnet, East Finchley and Wood Green and other volunteers to help with morning collection of flowers from M&S Southgate and Whetstone once a week. I’ve been incredibly fortunate this year to welcome some wonderful new shop volunteers Chieko, Dan Dan, Diane, Lubna and Mary I’m truly blessed to have them as volunteers but indebted to Mary who has 40+ years in the industry and at 64 is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever come across; she’s non stop, a creative genius with an incredible eye for detail and a mine of industry secrets. I was approached before the Christmas hiatus by The Flower Bank’s old floral pal Yan Skates (he from Netflix’s the Big Flower Fight a couple of years ago) about collaborating on something fun in January so watch this space. I’m off to plan for that and Valentine’s Day and of course continue my germ free obsolescence (apologies to X Ray Specs). Have a great week. Ursula