Bella’s Bouquets in Swanscombe picks local hero

After one of the toughest years we’ve faced as a community, Bella’s Bouquets in Swanscombe has been taking nominations throughout May to award a local resident with a much-deserved “hero’s bouquet”.

 

We caught up with 36-year-old florist, Natalie Collins, who spoke to us about her shop, named after her adorable Chihuahua Bella, and the inspiration behind honouring a local resident for their work within the community.

 

When did you notice you had a passion for flowers?

“My passion for flowers only began 6 years ago when I was working for a local council but was not happy in the office environment. After 8 years I went back to night school to retrain, as I have always enjoyed art and all sorts of crafts and when deciding what to do, I came across a flower course and took the plunge. Not only do I love working with such a wonderful media, I enjoy interacting with my customers. I specialise in funeral tributes and love to make custom pieces that represent people’s loved ones.”

 

What inspired you to honour one hard-working member of the community as a local hero? 

“I grew up in Swanscombe and have always loved the community feel in the area and after the hard year we have all had, I thought it would be a nice way to show our appreciation to everybody who helped and supported those who may have needed it.

“I have always felt that Swanscombe has a wonderful community spirit and I saw lots of people helping neighbours and friends where needed. I wish I could reward everyone with flowers to show their hard work was appreciated. We have had a great response with quite a few nominations from which we picked the
top ten nominations and put all those names in a hat as it was too hard to decide and I wanted it to be impartial.

“Flowers can help to brighten someone’s day, there have been some studies that say having fresh flowers and plants around the house can help reduce stress and anxiety.”

 

After receiving a plethora of nominations, Natalie decided the fairest way to decide was to pick a name out of a hat and your local hero is: Rhianne Earl – thank you for all the hard work you’ve put into the community and enjoy your hero’s bouquet.

 

Congratulations to Rhianne! To find out more about Bella’s Bouquets, visit the Bella’s Bouquets Facebook page, where you can see a beautiful post about Rhianne receiving her hero’s bouquet.

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