Hi everyone, this is the usual newsletter from Thriplow Shop before Daffodil Weekend is upon us, we hope you have a great weekend...

1. Arrangements in the shop for Daffodil Weekend
2. Mother’s Day and Easter will follow on
3. 150 Club winners, January and February
4. How are we doing?
5. Call for plastic carrier bags

1, Daffodil Weekend has already started for the shop! We have stocked up with special items for the visitors and we have arranged extra staff cover. The nice weather has brought out not just the daffodils, but also the visitors who pop into the shop for coffee, cakes and lunch.

As usual, we will be open from normal time on Saturday and Sunday, and will try to close up by 6pm each day. The visitors tend to start arriving by 11am so it would help you and us enormously if you can do your shopping, for newspapers, croissants etc by 11am and you will avoid the queues.

We will be operating a cashback facility for debit cards, providing you spend over £5 and we will be preparing bacon sandwiches for hungry, busy weekend helpers so remember that when you get hungry – much cheaper than some of the food on offer!

2. Mother’s Day is 26th March and Easter follows three weeks later so we have lots of chocolate gifts and eggs for mums and kids. Take a look at our display on the shelf above the wine selections

3. I haven’t reported January or February winners of the 150 Club yet so they were: Ali Parkes, Margaret Parkinson, Sue Earnshaw, David Knight, Sarah Clarkson, John Cavill and Geoff Link. One lucky ball didn’t have an owner – there aren’t many free balls leftbut if you want one, let us know.

4. We didn’t have the best year in 2016, for some reason that we don’t understand, turnover was down by 5%, pretty uniformly all year. This year started well with January sales up again but February was slow. We’re hoping for a good weekend – we can often take a whole week’s revenue in the two days – but this is very weather dependent, and anyway we need your support throughout the year. Let’s hope turnover in March gets back to normal.

5. Finally, we need any plastic carrier bags that you may have. We use a lot over the weekend, so if you have any in those cupboards, car boots or garages, please can you bring them in before Friday?

Thanks everyone

Kevin