Free plants and flowers puts smiles on faces
A FLORIST has been giving away free plants and flowers - all to raise a smile on the faces of strangers.
AJ Gutteridge, a florist based in Porthcawl, started giving away its spare plants and flowers in the early days of the pandemic when lockdown forced them to close their doors suddenly.
Since then, the business has continued giving away plants and flowers, all as a way to give something back to its community.
The family business was first opened in 1939 by Alison Hoskin’s grandfather. Her mother Tina joined the venture aged 21, and Alison’s father Julian later began growing Gutteridge’s plants in their nursery. Alison followed suit and even gets her sons involved at busy times.
Alison, 38, said: “People have supported us so long, going back my mum has been a florist and my grandfather was a florist and a local fruit and vegetable monger. So, we’ve been in business for so long and the people support us, so we want to give a bit back.
“If we’ve got flowers left over from any event or any work that we’ve done specifically, then I just bunch them up and drop them around Porthcawl and Bridgend.
“We grow a lot of plants as well as the flowers, but when the first lockdown happened we had a lot of plants left over because we were all geared up from Easter. We just dropped boxes of plants around peoples doors, some of the care homes and just donated a load of plants.”
They gave away roses for Valentine’s Day and on the national day of remembrance for Covid in March, yellow plants were given to people to take home and plant.
“It’s all very small gestures by us but if it makes someone smile it’s worth it,” said Alison.
Her most recent bunch was made up of flowers left over from an event and rather than them going to waste she decided to gift them.
The bunch was left with a note which said: “We made up this little bouquet for you to find. We’d like you to give it to a person for whom it will make a difference, who would appreciate the gift of flowers and show them that someone cares.”
The business plans to continue giving away their free gifts, all in surprise locations.