Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a shop full of flowers - Amanda ready for first Valentine’s Day

Amanda Rawlings, Dawson's Flowers, The Causeway, Blunts Lane, Whittlesey, Peterborough (Image: Archant)

Amanda Rawlings’ lifelong dream of owning a florist blossomed this month after she took over Dawson’s Flowers in Whittlesey.

For the past two years, Amanda worked part time, running floristry work as a side-line, but she’d been thinking about setting up her own business for some time.

Her plans finally came to fruition when she discovered a local florist was retiring and putting the business up for sale.

Amanda, a former NHS worker and mother of three, said: “I went home and told my husband, who said, ‘Let’s do it’. If we didn’t do it now, we wouldn’t do it. He bought the business for me so I just needed to get myself set up.”

Amanda trained as a florist after she left school but took time out to raise her children. She returned to work getting a job in the NHS where she has worked for 17 years.

After opening a business bank account for Amanda, Matt Punter, a local business manager at Lloyds Bank, helped the florist get adequate cover for her business, including public liability, employer liability and shop insurance.

“I was gobsmacked at how quick it all was,” Amanda said. “I’d been to see three other local banks and they wouldn’t see me for three weeks, but I was all set up in two days at Lloyds Bank.

“I’m just about ready in time for Valentine’s Day which is one of the busiest times of year for me.

“They’ve done everything for me which means the world to me because I know I have reliable support. If I need something doing, they’ll get it done quickly.”

Mr Punter said: “It’s really rewarding to help people like Amanda make their dreams come true.

“After spending a few years doing floristry more as a hobby, she’s now able to make a real living from something she loves.”