Homeschooling, Paint and madness..

Hi there everyone, another couple of weeks (maybe more, does anyone know what day it is?) have passed since we last updated our blog. I hope this post finds you all safe and well. 

Such strange times we are living in! The shop continues to be open, serving Calor Gas and plumbing fittings etc, we are also available for collection by appointment - social distancing being maintained of course.

It's very strange for our whole team, working in different locations, different ways like never before, and of course - without our lovely customers! We are grateful and mindful of how lucky we are to be able to continue to trade in these times, and have taken this time to work as hard as we can to assist serving our customers in new ways. We have been offering free delivery with no minimum order value since lockdown began, and to be honest, there seems no reason to not continue to offer this service for those that need it - we will be looking at this.

That's one of the positive things we can take from such a dreadful point in time, the spirit of those around us and the sense of community felt by all. We are all trying to take such good care of each other,particularly the vulnerable and doing a brilliant job of it - I think we should all make an ongoing commitment to continuing to do so.

Frenchic paint sales do continue to dominate our days (and nights, weekends, even 4am messages!) again, we are grateful for the hard work of Frenchic - their warehouse team who are working in shifts across 14 hours a day, almost every day! There are many stockists around the UK who like us have had an easier time of it, because of the popularity and successes of this wonderful brand.

We have also been very busy serving our local community with Calor Gas, ensuring heating, cooking and of course BBQ's can go ahead during these times.

Like many of our customers, our family have first hand knowledge of how tricky the homeschool/work from home balance can be! Many phone calls between the three of us (Sue, Joe & Mandie) are made whilst hiding, with almighty noise of squabbling in the background and lots of interruptions! Happy to report that everyone is safe and well, although some of us may not be suited to teaching haha - We would love to hear how you are getting on.

Mr & Mrs Dale are also safe and well, you may have seen our Facebook post as Mr. Dale has recently celebrated a birthday!

Steve has been working hard in the workshop as ever, but in the peace and quiet! Making fabulous things such as metal gates - you can message us if you need anything making. Ruth is also safe and well and we have been having lots of catch ups - it will be lovely when we can all be together again.

However, even being busy we are ever mindful we would normally have been serving our lovely customers with their new summer dresses and socks, as Easter is normally a very busy time for school uniform. Ruth would normally be dancing around the shop with your little ones and we look forward to that happening again soon. We are continuing our usual plans for the year, so we can make sure we are here to help, should you need us. We launched the first in area "Quiet time appointment service" last year, with great success, aimed at those who needed or wanted a quieter service/environment to shop in, alongside those who simply struggle to get to us during normal business hours. We are thankful that we launched last year, and so are able to be ready and flexible should the need be greater this year.

Finally, Just to add, we are eternally grateful to have served our community since 1927, we miss you all so very much, and can not wait to see you again and have a good old natter!

Take care, Stay Safe