Mother's Day 2020
As many may know, we at Pinstripes and Peonies are proud supporters of the Floral Angels, an incredible charity lead by a kick-ass group of volunteers. Flowers without a home at the end of our events, and the events of other florists, are donated to the Floral Angels. They take the flowers and make them into smaller bouquets which then go to care homes, shelters, hospices and more. When the Flower Market moved to its new location 3 years ago, the Floral Angels weren't allocated a space, as they had been previously. So, we gave them their own space in our studio (with the extortionate rent of one packet of biscuits whenever they remember). Our Director, Ruari, is also on their Board of Trustees. So you get it, we love this crowd, what they represent and all they do.
Every year on Mothers' Day, we buy two thousand (yep, thousand) daffodils and donate them to the Floral Angels. We don't just do this because we love daffodils, it's so that the Floral Angels can turn them into posies and deliver them to the Mums living in the on-site accommodation at Great Ormond Street Hospital. For everyone at Pinstripes, this is one of our favourite events of the year – we're a family oriented business, we have brothers and husbands and wives within our team; we know each other's kids, partners, siblings, parents! – and so the daffodil tradition is one that is close to our hearts.
With all of the hardship and uncertainty due to Covid-19, the Floral Angels were sadly unable to fulfil the tradition this year. This laid heavy in our hearts because the Mothers' Day drop sums up our company ethos of 'delivering beautiful flowers for lovely people!
We can't say that, with recent circumstances, we as a company aren't struggling either. We are an events company, we rely on people coming together. In the words of Ruari however, "no matter how tough people in the events business think their lives are at the moment, there is always someone who is doing a little bit worse, who needs a little bit more love." And because of that, we went ahead, acting under Floral Angels' name, to make sure these Mums living at Great Ormond Street Hospital felt that love.
Our two florists, Lucy and Elouise, unlocked the studio for an afternoon to make 80 posies in the well-known Floral Angels tin-can-vases. Ruari then took these to the accommodation wing of the Hospital in hopes of bringing someone a smile.
We all agreed at Pinstripes that if we were to have one last job as a company, time and time again we would pick this to be that job. It's not the job that makes us thousands of pounds (although, if you do have that going spare, do call us!) or puts our team to the test with defying time constraints, creative boundaries or, you know, gravity. Still, it's the job that has heart, compassion and humbles us the most.
So to all the mothers in all shapes, forms, varieties, circumstances and locations – Happy Mothers' Day!
Peace Out & Flower Power,
Team Pinstripes & Peonies xx