What a Grand Opening!

What a Fantastic Day! The day of the Grand Opening was one that I will never forget. So many people turned up to look around the clinic that I was really grateful that I had my ‘kitchen elves’ on hand to help. Mum (Sheila), Mum in law (Doris) and friend, Leona all did sterling works serving Coffee and Cakes and selling raffle tickets for the Macmillan Nurses Fund Raiser that we ran at the same time. We estimate that around 60 people came in total over the day, which was fabulous, and loads of others rang or emailed with good wishes. Thank you to everybody, especially to those who donated cakes and prizes, we have raised over £200 for the Macmillan Nurses.

It was lovely to meet Sue Chan at last. She is the clever person who came up with the name of 'Body & Sole'. We had spoken two or three times on the phone so felt that we already knew each other and we had great fun posing for photos. I did give a short speech and I really hope that I managed to thank every one who had been involved in the project. Sue then graciously cut the ribbon and pronounced ‘Body & Sole’ open, hoping that the clinic would live up to its name and bring many Bodies and Soles through the door. Thank you Sue.

I do hope that anyone who hasn’t yet managed to visit and have the tour of the clinic will one day pop in to see me. I will be pleased to see you, and very proud to show you round.

Only Two Days To Go

The Grand Opening of the clinic is this Friday, how did that get here so quickly? Getting ready for it has been harder than painting the ceilings and much much harder than a full day of massage!

However the house is pretty tidy, thanks to Mum, several people have been commissioned to bake cakes, I pick the glasses up tomorrow and Sainsburys are delivering the wine in the morning. (Internet supermarket shopping is so much easier). A gorgeous arrangement of flowers have been delivered courtesy of Flowers by Suzanne http://www.flowersbysuzanne.com/ and it now sits next to my new work computer that Jason Herrick put together for me. Thank you, Jason.

I think that I have sent out approximately 200 invitations, and more by email and Facebook, so hopefully there should be a good crowd. Ade has done a great job of calming my nerves tonight and persuading me that it is all a bit of fun, so I am determined to believe him.

My one regret is that Dave won't be here on Friday to receive the official thanks for all his hard work. I think he is secretly quite pleased to be well out of it. He has experienced my organising things before and knows they can mean hard work for him! I promise that I will take him for a good night out when he returns from Southampton or Scotland or wherever it is this time.

Anyway only a few more bits of sorting out to do (I think) and a very short speech to write and I should be ready. Oh no, I've got to decide what to wear. Help!!!!

Map to Body & Sole

Ok, I admit defeat with the embedding for the map. Ade very kindly told me how to do the embedding but for some reason I can't get the link to work. If you go to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and type in NG23 7EB then you will find the map to the clinic. So that is nearly as good.

I have been away for the weekend (on another fabulous No Hands Massage course where we spent a lot of time talking about colons and how to massage them! We did some other types of massage as well and I can honestly say that I have never had such fabulous massages. Fancy some of that? Give me a call).

Anyway, I digress. I have suddenly realised that it is less than two weeks to the Grand Opening and there is loads to do. I have to get the guest list sorted and the invitations done. We need a ribbon to cut and some wine to drink.... and I am doing the Macmillan Coffee morning on the same day as well. On top of all that my diary is completely full of client bookings. Which is excellent of course and I am not complaining, it is just tricky when it comes to delivering invitations.

So I had better get back to doing the guest list!

And the Winner is....

Tan tan tara!!!!
And the winner of the Name the Clinic Contest is Sue Chan with her suggestion
Body and Sole
Runner up is Annie Wright who came up with the same name but a couple of days later

Well done to all the entrants and thank you for all your efforts. It was fun hearing and reading them. Both Sue and Annie have been invited to the Grand Opening on the 25th Sept at 3pm and Sue will be cutting the ribbon.

You are, of course, invited too and I shall be making a day of it. As you may know I have run a Macmillan Nurses Coffee Day for the past couple of years as a charity event and have decided to combine it with the Grand Opening. The format this year will be -

10am Stalls and Drinks available.
( Phoenix Cards, Jewellery, Virgin Vie, Garden Mirrors and Dangly Doo’s, Raffle, secondhand books ) (As always cake, raffle prize and book donations gratefully accepted)
3pm Grand Opening
7pm Virgin Vie Demonstration

I have also invited other local businesses to bring leaflets showing what they do, so there should be a lot going on that day.
Please do come along and bring friends and family. You are welcome at any time between 10am and 9.30pm on the 25th Sept 2009.

IMPORTANT In order that I can get enough glasses for the bubbly for the Grand Opening, please could you let me know whether you are coming to the 3pm celebration by Monday 21 Sept.

Hopefully there will be a map embedded into this post soon but in the meantime the address is Body and Sole, Lime Grove Clinic, High Street, Harby, Newark, Notts NG23 7EB

Spring Tides and Sorting Stuff

A lot of water has passed (literally) since I last updated this. Yet again Sam and I have been to Norfolk, this time for the Regatta at Burnham Overy Staithe. http://www.overystaithesc.org.uk/php/gallery.php The spring tides meant some very high tides so here is a photo of lots of sea and a pretty boat! Believe it or not we had raced, finished and put our boat away and there was still this amount of water! Those little tufts of green that you can see are usually significant banks. (Sam and I won one race and came second in two others so we were pleased with ourselves)

Anyway, back to the clinic. I managed to find some very good end of line two drawer cabinets at Lincoln Office Furniture, and also a second hand one which are perfect for what I want. (Their website is being refurbished as I write this but it is http://www.lincolnofficefurniture.co.uk/e.co.uk/ and they have loads of stuff.) Dave has made a fabulous desk top for one of them that perfectly fits the space. I am digging out my various cupboards and hoarding places in the house and finding homes for it all in the clinic, or in some cases the bin! You will have to be patient a little longer for further photos because the battery on the camera ran out, but believe me it is all gorgeous. And I am so looking forward to the Grand Opening.

All the Painting Done (I think)

A long week with a paint brush at every spare moment but now virtually everything has been painted, including the inside of the cupboards! I am delighted with the overall effect and feel of it all. A lot of the equipment has been moved into the clinic and I am beginning to get a sense of what it will be like to use it in earnest.

I still need more storage in there and am in need of some two drawer filing cabinets. The proper metal office type that lock securely rather than the home office ones that seem a bit flimsy to me. I am happy with good second hand ones. Any suggestions?

A visit to Dunelm is called for as well. They have some nice room dividing screens that will be ideal for the therapy room and I am sure that some other bargains will be found. http://www.dunelm-mill.com/product/20196.htm

Clinic Name Competition
I am still getting entries for the competition for the clinic name; there are some very good ones and one (anonymous) one that really made me laugh! I am keeping an open mind though, so if you can come up with a name that happily reflects the various therapies that I offer, then you can still enter through http://tinyurl.com/nametheclinic The winner will be a celebrity for the day and cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.

We Passed!

Last Thursday after some exciting drifting around Blakeney harbour (no breeze at 7am), and a slightly more exciting prize giving (we won our class), I had a phone call from Dave with the news that I had been hoping for. The Building Inspector had paid a visit to the clinic and was very pleased with what we (OK, Dave) had done with the building. He especially liked the disabled parking space, now complete with its markings. That is the last visit from the Building Inspector as he has signed the clinic off and now all systems are go, to get it finally ready for use.

By the time that I arrived back in Harby on Sunday, Dave had already left as he is working away for a couple of weeks. Before even unloading the camper van, I unlocked the clinic door to see the changes that had been wrought. Fantastic. The flooring and the door now work together. The sinks are in and hot water comes out of the taps! The internal doors have been hung and just need painting.

So once I have finished the huge piles of washing that always accompany me home after a week of sailing, I shall be grabbing a paint brush and setting to with great vigour. There really is light at the end of the tunnel.

As for sailing at North West Norfolk Week’s 60th Anniversary Event, Sam and I won one race, had a second and a couple of thirds and came third overall in our class. The most satisfying part of it was that we sailed to the very best of our ability and did not fail to sail any races due to ill health (bad backs or hangovers) or equipment failure, although a piece of string was needed to hold the mast in place for the last two races whilst at Snettisham. The photos were taken at Kings Lynn on the River, one of the muddier venues!