The market last week was a phenomenally hot affair, so hot that the icing melted on Blondie box’s cakes. All that seems a long time ago as this week we’ve created funeral tributes for Laura, wedding flowers for Joy & Sam, a buttonhole and corsage for a prom, prepared endless farewell and thank you flowers for teachers - oh and collected flowers from Nobu Hotel in central London. Collecting the flowers was an experience as I’d been dreading the drive but as it turned out we sailed into Portman Square in 45 minutes. The Sat Nav directed me through Regent’s Park where we drove amongst a sea of cyclists with an occasional sighting of another car and it felt very eerie. We loaded up the car and headed back home to turn them into table arrangements, buttonholes and bouquets for Joy & Sam’s wedding the following day. Thanks to Lubna, Chieko, Wai and Julie for your help this week you’ve been amazing. Lubna and Chieko have only just completed a 5 week crash course in floristry at Capel Manor but worked as if they’d been in the floristry industry for years. We were sustained throughout by Theo’s iced lattes! This week looks a bit calmer and I need the peace to get straight and tidy in advance of Comic Relief on Wednesday. Have a great week.

Today is market no 3 and it’s going to be a scorcher. I can’t believe how quickly the month has passed and I’m looking forward to catching up with our stallholders and volunteers who are all wonderful. At this market we welcome a new stall “Grow fromTotteridge Academy” who crowdfunded in the round after me and are a learning and community farm based at Totteridge Academy in Barnet (quite near The Flower Bank). They’re going to be selling their farm fresh produce. Comic Relief didn’t come this week as their photographer was self isolating so they’re re-scheduled for a week on Wednesday. Talking of self isolation please spare a thought for my younger daughter and her Year 8 bubble. After self isolating for 10 days earlier in the month she was in school for just one day to be told to self isolate again for 10 days. This meant no traditional end of term larks and happily for her No Sports Day, She’d been chosen to do the relay which she swore blind she was ok with but I think self isolation was preferable. Still, the rules change tomorrow which should make everything so much clearer!!! Next Saturday we’re preparing flowers for our first wedding and on Friday I’m supposed to be collecting flowers from a corporate event at Nobu in Mayfair. I received a phone call from a Leeds event based company who were pitching for an event in London in September and wanted to name The Flower Bank in their section on Sustainability - the world of events is really opening up. I spoke to Tivoli a few weeks ago - Tivoli is the company that until March 2020 supplied board rooms, receptions and restaurants at Canary Wharf with weekly blooms. They told me that they’re expecting to start supplying flowers to them from September. Anyway, I’m off to cut some hydrangea heads and if I don’t see you later have a great week. Ursula

I’ve forced anyone and everyone to create football themed arrangements this week from young offenders to the elderly. I’ve been obsessed by all things England FC and was thrilled to meet a like minded bar mitzvah mother who told me that a football themed table arrangement was just what her son needed for his bar mitzvah yesterday. Their event originally planned for a synagogue had at the last minute, owing to her son’s entire school year being in isolation, been changed to their living room and zoom. This is by no means an isolated case (no pun intended) the cases of COVID in secondary schools has rocketed in the past few weeks and the table centrepieces that I made for a bar mitzvah last night very nearly didn’t make it either. Fortunately the bar mitzvah person’s self isolation ended 1 hour before the scheduled start of their already twice postponed reception! On Wednesday Comic Relief are coming to film a typical day in the life of The Flower Bank for their Instagram account and next Sunday will be our third market. By the way thank you everyone for your jam jar donations they’re really appreciated. Have a great week. Ursula

Many thanks Janine Young of Wild About our Woods for introducing me to the wonderful craft that is Hapa Zome (Japanese leaf bashing). I first saw this craft in action at Barnet’s Medieval Festival and remember being jaw droppingly impressed. I’m running this as a children’s workshop all weekend for the Arts Depot at the wonderful Stephens House & Gardens in Finchley. The photograph is of Hussein who was the first child to have a go and both him and his mum were genuinely delighted and amazed when the shapes and colours appeared on the material. Thanks too to the kind anonymous donor of 3 jam jars that I found on my doorstep they were a wonderful surprise. On Tuesday Melissa & Tone from Southover School created some flower arrangements to show their support for England’s Football Team in their impending match against Germany, well it certainly did the trick. All this positivity has been overshadowed by the news on Monday of the death of my lovely friend and Flower Bank supporter Laura, it’s cruel, undeserved and extremely premature. Have a great week. Ursula

Thank you everyone that’s volunteers, visitors, stallholders and musicians who helped make our second Zero Waste market a success. Our next one will be on Sunday 18 July and we hope to have a fruit and veg stall run by fellow Spacehive crowdfunders “Grow at Totteridge Academy” which will be amazing. Talking of collaborations yesterday, we started selling our bouquets in High Barnet’s zero waste shop Kronos & Rhea who sold out of them quickly. More next week! A recent plea of mine garnered a great response and I’ve now got volunteers helping me unload and condition the flowers at 9.30 am they’re an enormous help and very enthusiastic. My plea now is for empty clear glass jam jars as we’ve got a lot of summer weddings coming and not enough jam jars. So, if you’re a Bonne Maman, Mrs Elswood or even a Lloyd Grossman pasta sauce fan (thanks to Wiater and wider family) please join our jam jar amnesty. Next week after 16 months I start my first face to face (I say face to face but it’ll be heavily masked and temperature tested) session back at Lady Sarah Cohen House and I can’t wait. Have a great week. Ursula

It’s been quite a week on the heat, football, rain, flowers and trips to the tip front but a midweek visit from Elaine Delmar (see picture) was a total joy. It was whilst I was working for Haringey Council as an Equalities Events Officer that I first heard of Elaine. I’d been listening to a vintage episode of Morecambe & Wise on Radio 4 Extra when I heard her sing during their half time cabaret slot. Intrigued by her name and voice I googled her and discovered she’d been raised in Wood Green and that her father had been a well known jazz band leader. Of course, I sent her agent an email to ask if she might like to collaborate with Haringey’s young jazz musicians. I heard back from her address in New Barnet that she’d be delighted and at the end of the summer term in 2011 I had the greatest pleasure of watching their collaboration. Cut to 2021, and who walks into the shop? Elaine who hasn’t aged one bit during those 10 years. To cut a long story short Elaine is a near neighbour who’s clueless about gardening in conversation she tells me that she’ll be back performing at Ronnie Scott’s soon which she loves - I subsequently hear from a friend that she’s just received a lifetime achievement award from them - what a star. Today is our second zero waste market and I’m awake cripplingly early worrying about the weather, the rain and questioning if I’ve collected enough gazebo’s from the fantastically kind and helpful Bob Burstow. I’ll find out about 9.00 am. This is the last time we’ll be providing the marquees for free the process of collecting and erecting them is exhausting and not for a keen amateur like me. Anyway, I digress our market is on today from 12.00 and we’ve got lots of exciting stalls who, fingers crossed, won’t get rained on. Eternal thanks to Helen Harte who is a social media genius, Julie Wiater and 2 rather lovely Turkish/German sisters Bilge and Gamza who’ve been transforming the back garden over the past week and which is why I’ve had so many trips to the tip. Have a great week and I hope to see you later. Ursula

I’m very tired this week as I’ve driven from Brent Cross to Walthamstow and all points in between to collect flowers. Heavy traffic and roadworks have wreaked havoc with my journey plus I’ve been swamped and overwhelmed by the volume of flowers I’ve collected. Flower collections this week are back to and surpassing pre-pandemic levels which is odd - odd because the cost of flowers at the wholesalers is through the roof and flower supplies are limited yet the supermarkets have a lot of waste. The warehouse staff I’ve spoken to can’t believe the quantity of flowers they’re unloading either and believe me I’m not complaining just curious, anyway the long and the short of it is I desperately need help in the mornings to sort out and condition the flowers once I’m back at the shop at 9.30 I have wonderful help every Tuesday morning from Chieko but could do with help on any/every morning. The job of sorting out and conditioning the flowers is vital and every morning by myself the job is taking me about 2 hours so an extra pair of hands and company would be most welcome. . Next week is British Flowers Week but I’ve nothing special planned just preparing for our next market which is on Sunday 20 June. I’ve got lots of local zero waste businesses lined up plus our local micro brewery Urban alchemy which I’m delighted about - it would be great if you could follow us on Instagram @newbarnetmarket and even better if you could support us in person. Have a great week. Ursula

Last week I received confirmation that The Flower Bank is an AQA Centre which was serendipitous as I had a meeting the same day with the Head of Barnet’s Youth Offending Service. They love our partnership and what we’ve created and are thrilled that the young people’s reparations will lead to achievement. As I learned from my time working with Haringey’s Youth Offending Service many of the young people’s education has been chaotic so a certificate of any description is a huge thing. Last week was National Volunteers’ week and Chieko started helping me on Tuesday morning with the hardest job of all - sorting and conditioning the morning’s collection of flowers. A job which would normally take a couple of hours took no time at all. On Friday afternoon Naomi helped me by enthusiastically delivering a floral crown workshop to staff at a nearby nursery, the weather was vile but she brought total joy to the activity. And finally a massive thank you to all my volunteers young and old who bring me huge pleasure - thank you. The photograph is of my youngest volunteer and daughter, Ella frequently press ganged into volunteering with me but who never complains.

This time last week we were preparing to hold our first market at Leicester Road - the weather was atrocious but that didn’t deter people and we received some amazing support, thank you everyone who visited. To the volunteers on Sunday - Anna, Bob, Chris, Denise, Julie, Martha, Steve, Wai, Wilton, the amazing Helen Harte who does all our social media and our fantastic musicians I’m really lucky to have your support and to know you all. My enthusiasm for zero waste was still going strong on Tuesday and I inspired Zoe, a support worker from Southover School who attends every week with a student, to have a go at turning discarded M&S bread into bread and butter pudding. The results were glorious and she’ll be at the next market along with a lady who makes tote bags for charities from old curtains and cushions. Zoe kindly dropped a batch of her latest bread pudding with me yesterday en route to Borough Market for research, so glad I’m not gluten intolerant! On Friday myself and a young offender Yosef decorated the front door of Max’s house for his bar mitzvah. Yosef is Jewish and when I asked him what he’d done for his bar mitzvah he simply shrugged his shoulders and said they’d had some drinks after the service for everyone but that his parents didn’t have much and his dad was disabled so they just did what they could. Yosef was a great help and really threw himself into decorating the house and neither of us really noticed the rain. This afternoon I’m visiting Sandra’s open garden at 40 Hendon Avenue N3 it’s a gorgeous oasis of calm and well worth the visit. I hope everyone enjoys the Bank Holiday. Ursula

Being a florist you get to experience the life events in customers’ lives and this week has been rather epic - a funeral on Tuesday, civil partnership on Thursday and bar mitzvah on Saturday and today we’re hosting our first market. My emotions today range from excitement and disbelief to blind panic. Today’s weather forecast earlier in the week was 80% likelihood of rain but so far the sun’s shining - fear not we’ve got gazebos for our whole host of stalls. So if you’re in the EN5 5EW area later today please come and say hello.