Summer News

An update from me just before everyone starts disappearing on holiday – or you may already be on the beach reading this - I hope not - leave work behind!

The day before the General Election I had the privilege of speaking at a Bwyd a Diod Cymru (Food & Drink Wales) sustainability conference organised by the forward-thinking Welsh Government.? By the time I was on the stage mid afternoon the audience seemed to be flagging after several hours of facts and mind stimulation, so I abandoned some of what I was going to talk about and tried to engage them at a heart and soul level.?

Yes, there is a pressure to do more in terms of sustainability. Good intentions are fantastic and the only real starting point and we must make plans and strategies to do more, but until we are emotionally and spiritually engaged, we will burn out and will have less to show for our positive intentions.? I think the audience were inspired at a deeper level after I sat down.

The same theme continued the following day as I was down in Sussex for the launch of Nature Works, a superb new book written by my friend and mentor, Giles Hutchins , for which I wrote one of the 4 forewords.? Learning and leading by nature are essential if we are to tackle the problems in the world? - all the answers we seek are found in the wisdom of nature.? The outward expression of what we achieve in this world is only a reflection of the depth of our connection with ourselves, nature and other people.

Within the last month I also had an opportunity to be interviewed on Times Radio on Lord Ed Vaizey 's Friday evening show.? Hopefully a peek into the future as I plan to do more media events over the next year including launching my own podcast – watch this space!

Of course, I still spend most of my time as CEO of Cotswold Fayre | B Corp and Flourish Foodhall & Kitchen | B Corp and exciting things are happening in both sides of the business.? Flourish has just taken on its second retail site – an existing site that we are currently extending and renovating and will become Flourish No. 2 in the autumn. And on the wholesale side we are planning our 25th Birthday Conference and Party for 24th October.? Here’s a link to find out more - https://www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk/conference-and-party - and do come along. We are lining up some fantastic speakers.