A FLORISTS in Dursley will close down in December as the owner takes early retirement after a total of 14 years this week at the shop.

Mandy Woodward, 46, gets ready to close Wildwood Flowers on Christmas Eve. She doesn’t plan on having a leaving celebration, and said that instead she plans “to sneak away”.

When Mandy left school at age 16 she began a work placement at her local florists in Cam after working briefly for a butchers before the owner retired.

She said: “My first memory of it is it being so cold. I always remember it because I started in January it was in a really old building in Cam that has been knocked down now.”

Mandy would spend a few weeks at the shop and a few weeks studying Floristry and Horticulture at Lackham Campus of Wiltshire College.

She absorbed information about which colours and flowers might look good together. Now an expert in the field, after 30 years, she believes that ‘being artistic’ is key to creating the perfect bouquet for any occasion.

After her spell in Cam she went to work for a florist in Gloucester for nine years where she met her husband.

“He worked at the garage next door where he still is, and we met because he was always walking past.”

“Wolf-whistling!” her friend Lesley Barwick-Hall joked.

“It took him ages to actually speak to me. The lady I was working for kept saying to me ‘oh Steve likes you.’ I said ‘yeah but he don’t speak to me’.

“The day he spoke to me he said ‘It’s my birthday today’, I said that’s strange it was my birthday yesterday.”

Mandy is now settled living in Cam with Steve not far from her florists shop in Dursley.

Steve is involved with the Durlsey Lions - who organise events to raise money for charities and groups. Together her and Steve help to organise the yearly Lion’s Beer Festival.

She works with police in the Shop Watch group with the Safer Community Team: “I do the shop watch messages. Shop watch check if updates on anyone, if a known shoplifter is in town I update everyone by sending a text message to everyone at the other shops.”

She would like to thank her loyal customers and friends for their support over the years, adding: “A few people were shocked to hear I’m leaving. You think you are going to do something forever but you don’t.”

Her friend Lesley, from South Gloucestershire, is helping out at the shop until Wildwood Flowers closes at Christmas. She said: “Everyone here knows Mandy. She’s very well-respected in the community.

“She is always helping everyone and goes out of her way to chat personally with customers.”

Following her retirement Mandy looks forward to keeping busy in her voluntary positions around the town. She looks after the planters at the market place for Dursley In Bloom gardening group, and works with the Town Trust managing bookings for the Town Hall.

There is nobody lined-up to take over Wildwood Flowers on Parsonage Street, but Mandy would welcome anyone who may be interested to come to speak to her or email her on mandystevewoody@msn.com.