An open letter to our sunflower sponsors!

Dear Sponsor

We’ve read your messages, you’ve touched our hearts.

Responding to you all individually isn’t possible during our busy spring period but we want you to know that we heard you, every single message was read and we’re grateful, so very grateful for your support and your kind words.

The news of the war in Ukraine is leaving us all feeling a little helpless. Watching families being split up at railway stations is heart-breaking. Like us, I’m sure you just wanted to know how to help. To find a way to respond to the call for humanitarian aid.

If you have followed us for a while on social media or if you have visited our field, you will know that we grow approximately half an acre of sunflowers alongside the flower field. We grow them primarily to feed the birds but they also give us a huge amount of joy. Their smiling faces never fail to work their magic. When we were ordering our seed this year, never could we have imagined just how poignant growing them will be. As the national flower of Ukraine, sunflowers have become a symbol of solidarity, resistance, unity and hope, above all else hope.

“I think I may have had a good idea”? It always starts like that! Would our followers on Instagram and Facebook sponsor our sunflowers? Waiting for us to plant them and for them to flower wasn’t an option, aid is required now. A quick poll on Instagram may have suggested that there was some interest but it was by no means a certainty that the idea had legs. Let’s do it anyway! We need to do something.

You will never know just how much faith you put in us, in the idea! Although ordered and with an order confirmation in my hand, the sunflower seed hadn’t actually arrived when we launched the appeal. (It has now). Let’s do it anyway! This is something we can do!

Your response was unbelievable. Thank you. The first £1000 was raised in just 24 hours and the first donation was sent via the Red Cross. We kept the sponsorship open and a second donation of £700 has now been sent via DEC. The weight of responsibility to ensure this money, all of it, was donated correctly, didn’t pass us by. We checked and checked that all was secure.

Our message to you is simple, “thank you”. It’s a drop in the ocean, we know that, but all our drops add up.

We have an idea as to how we would like to mark your kind donations. Another “I’ve had an idea” moment. We really hope that we can pull it off, so stay tuned and we will let you know if we do.

With much love and thanks always, Andrew and Clare x