There is something rather splendid about celebrating age, and the quite marvellous Holly Tucker, founder of “Not on the High Street” has inspired a rethink. Rather than seeing turning fifty as the path to decline, Holly & Co introduced a Mature-preneur business category for her 3rd independent business awards this year.

Fierceblooms, our small local sustainable Cheshire flower business, has received a nomination for The independent Awards 2022 in the mature-preneur category from Holly & Co. As you can imagine, I am thrilled and humbled beyond measure and that doesn’t even do it justice.

Alongside ten other inspiring small business owners who have created their business when over fifty too, the voting is now open to support the mature-prenure independent businesses and their unique contribution, as well as businesses across six other categories.

As many of you know, I am corporate scientist turned grower of sustainable wild garden style floral designs. The canalside flower cutting garden created next to the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union canal in Cheshire was inspired long ago by the love and green fingers of my late grandfather who I adored.

Our Cheshire canalside cutting garden grows the flowers we plant mind you. I am under no illusion of that. Every scented, sustainable stem is part of a unique seasonal moment we seek to capture in our Wild Garden style designs. Weddings. Creative digital classes live online. We’re committed to being kind, to being the seasonal change we wish to see for the floral industry, for the wildlife and for the planet. Our small independent floral business uses no imported flowers. We only ever use British grown flowers. No ifs, no buts, no maybes.

Our sustainable floral commitment is to the life and love of the land we are privileged to be the custodians of around our 19th century Cheshire Wharf. Our garden grown flowers are the creative inspiration for Fierceblooms.

This blog post is an invitation to vote for me today, and a grateful thank you to Holly Tucker for her nomination, a splendid Thursday lunchtime live on instagram that I am still smiling about. I applaud her steadfast enthusiasm for small business owners everywhere, and for seeing age as wisdom rather than a decline into invisibility.

I see a vote for the independent awards 2022 mature-preneur Fierceblooms nomination also as a vote for sustainability, a vote for holding onto the things that you hold dear, a vote for changing the way we think about being older, and learning to be wiser, and for me, creating with flowers, a love bequeathed from my darling grandfather.

Vote here.