It’s surprising how quickly I’ve adapted to a life without routine however I think my younger daughter might say that she’s been having too many unnecessary French lessons! On Friday I did my first virtual flower arranging class to 9 women scattered around Barnet, it wasn’t a disaster and despite our language barriers at the end of 45 minutes we’d all produced a respectable design but I’m not sure what we’ll be doing in a fortnight’s time. Earlier in the week I’d challenged a few friends to re-create a famous flowery painting using household materials and post it to Instagram you can see mine Sunflowers by Van Gogh in the photograph. I’ve had some tremendous replies from Katie, Naomi and Christine which were all beautiful and so different. I’m spending too much time on social media either posting or reading and I really recommend Shane Connolly who’s currently got a call to arms to help the British flower growers during this crisis and The Florist Magazine whose editor Caroline Marshall Foster is funny and writes so brilliantly. Have a lovely week and stay safe and as they say in France bon courage.

Happy Sunday although it could be any day of the week as every day is Groundhog Day, the expressions how are you and I hope you’re well are genuinely meant these days. The Flower Bank closed on Tuesday and the photograph is of the final order we created, a funeral wreath for a neighbour who died following a heart attack. It’s strange to be at home all the time and so far I’ve resisted the temptation to do a floristry class on Zoom - largely because I’ve abandoned make up and my roots need doing but I’m planning on running a faceless floristry class next week for people who won’t have any materials. I’ve been using this time to complete my accounts and a grant application or 2 and on that front I’m hopeful that The Flower Bank will receive a Covid 19 grant from the local authority we should hear about that on or about April 1st. I still go to the shop to water all the plants and it’s so uplifting to see their growth. I’ve re-connected with friends I haven’t spoken to for ages which is incredibly positive and I’ve completed far too many of those quizzes where you’re asked to identify films from emojis - oh and tomorrow my diet starts!! Take care.

It’s been a crazy week and I’m drowning in flowers, yes the pick ups from the supermarkets still continue and I really can’t imagine what I’ll be collecting next week in the aftermath of Mother’s Day. By Tuesday I’d hooked up with charities delivering food parcels to the socially isolated. On Wednesday I delivered flowers to elderly residents at Jewish Care’s Lady Sarah Cohen House as an activity for them - it’s a great way of keeping in touch with them. The photograph is of bunches of flowers that the 2 DofE volunteers and I made up to deliver with food parcels in partnership with The Wilds cafe. I’m going to be doing much the same next week as I’m still collecting flowers. So if you know someone who’s socially isolated or just someone who’d like some flowers to cheer them up please get in touch with me. Thanks to my astounding volunteers for their support this week in particular Martin Laheen who despite being 70 still works tirelessly for the Tottenham community collecting and distributing food for the needy and collecting groaning trolley loads of flowers for me from Tottenham’s Aldi. Please take care of yourselves. Love Ursula

It seems rather trivial to be sending a weekly update on the progress of the Flower Bank But here goes. We’re now up to 5 subscriptions for our flower delivery service with 2 more in the pipeline. My work with residential care homes has halted until safer times and I’ll miss my sessions with Marion, Lilian and Paul. We’re inundated with primroses at the moment so in a burst of creativity yesterday I thought I’d decorate the chair. Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, traditionally the busiest time in the florists’ calendar but who knows what or where we’ll be by next Sunday but If you’re interested we’ll be at Tottenham Green market. I think you’ll agree that there’s no better time for flower bombing.

It’s been rather an epic week involving 2 round trips to the Barbican, an activity for International Women’s Day and a new subscriber to our flower delivery service - which takes it to 3. We’d been approached by the City Bridge Trust just 2 weeks ago to create 16 table designs for their annual dinner at The Barbican. I was delighted to involve Barnet’s Youth Offending Team in the creation process and pretty quickly the 16 designs were ready. I was particularly proud when the young person was able to show one of our volunteers how to wire a gerbera! The photograph is of an arrangement that participants of Barnet’s fortnightly health and well-being flower club created for International Women’s Day - they all loved the finished arrangement. Yesterday I received a certificate from Barnet Council for The Flower Bank’s outstanding contribution to the Community which is part of their Civic award scheme. Some kind soul had nominated us and it’s wonderful that a female led organisation was recognised for its achievements on the eve of International Women’s Day. To quote Maya Angelou ‘Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me’

It’s perfect weather for today’s zero waste market in Bounds Green, should you be in the area today please come and say hello. We’re at Myddleton Road from 11 - 4. The photograph below is of some of our kind volunteers helping to make up bunches to sell at the market today. This Wednesday 4 March we’ve been asked to create the designs for the City Bridge Trust’s annual dinner at the Barbican and for this event Barnet Young Offenders will be helping me which is wonderful. We now have 3 people signed up for our weekly subscription service and we’d love a few more, for information look at our website www.theflowerbank.org.uk. I’m off to set up my stall, have a great week.

So this week’s been all about romance leading up to Valentine’s Day on Friday - but for The Flower Bank our Valentine’s Day is this week when we start to receive all the unsold red roses. We held a Valentine’s Day workshop on Thursday night for 7 which was fabulous, the attendees left with 2 hand tied arrangements and a quite wonderful feeling of I’ve made this myself. Our next workshop is on the afternoon of Saturday 21st March and is entitled Kids do Mother’s Day. It’s something I did last year on the suggestion of my neighbour Tess who thought it shameful that the kids of single mothers wouldn’t necessarily be encouraged or even think of getting a gift for their mothers - unfortunately it’s an experience I know only too well. On Monday Vicky who I studied at Capel Manor with kindly donated all the materials from a wedding she’d decorated the previous day. It was lovely to see her. I was able to use the beautiful white amaryllis she’d donated straight away that afternoon with an activity of elderly residents with dementia at a care home. The conversation the flowers provoked was breathtaking with everyone recalling the flowers at their own weddings 60 years ago. One lady admitted that she’d been a GI bride and married in New York in 1946. Tomorrow we’re set to receive 15 - 16 vasefuls of donated gypsophila from an exhibitor at the national wedding show so who knows what conversations we’ll have this week!

This has got to be the busiest time of year for florists - first there’s Valentine’s Day on Friday and next month Mother’s Day please spread the word that you can love the planet at the same time as your Val/Galentine by ordering flowers from us. Last Sunday we ran a stall at our second Zero Waste market in Bounds Green - within the first 10 minutes are marquee was blown away but undaunted we continued and met some wonderful people including Simon. Simon contacted me after the market and said he’d like to take a subscription of weekly flowers from us (see picture) so for £10 a week each Thursday I leave a bouquet, we’re looking for more Simon’s. This week I’ll be flower bombing all over London so watch my social media for clues as to their location. Have a wonderful week.

Today, courtesy of my floral friend Anita (thank you) I created a coffin spray for the funeral of an inmate with no family at HMP Bovingdon. This is exactly why I created The Flower Bank to bring joy and beauty into the lives of those who can least afford it and give dignity to everyone. Promoting the concept of affordable funeral flowers is proving difficult to sell to Funeral Directors because they often have retained florists so if anyone knows somebody who would be willing to give us a chance - please send them in my direction. On Tuesday I’ve got a meeting with PriceWaterhouseCoopers - they’re coming to the shop to get a flavour of what we do and how best we can work together which is all fabulous. Last week I collected 6 crates of daffodils from a supermarket - there are 40 bunches in a crate and each bunch sells for £1 - there really was nothing wrong with them and recipients varied from Colindale Food Bank users to Stanmore’s WIZO group. Have a wonderful week I’m off to do some history homework with my youngest daughter.

I’m sending this week’s email early as I have an early start at Tottenham Green market tomorrow but I just wanted to tell you about an email I received an email last night from Angela. She explained that she was organising a memorial for her best friend Yukiko the following day and would I be interested in taking the flowers? She explained that she’d rung round endless care homes and hospitals but to no avail. I said I would be honoured and would use the flowers to spread joy and her love via flower bombing. I collected the flowers this evening and discovered from her friends that Yukiko had contracted cancer whilst undergoing IVF and had died within 3 months of diagnosis. Despite only a brief meeting I feel an enormous sense of duty to her friends to honour her memory so expect some activity over the next couple of days. Yukiko is in the photograph.