A Tain mum who has devoted her entire life to creating floral gifts and decorations for others is celebrating a remarkable milestone of her own.
The Flower Shop, based at R&B Garden Centre on Morangie Road, is marking 750,000 orders, while celebrating a quarter of a century under florist Sandra McKinlay’s guidance.
Mrs McKinlay began her career 56 years ago helping her parents, Sandy and Agnes Macdonald, in their Stafford Street shop. As a baby and toddler she even slept in flower boxes while her parents started to build the successful business.
An estimated three quarters of a million orders later, Mrs McKinlay has been marking the special anniversary at the helm of the business.
Mrs McKinlay, now 58, took over the business in 1994 after her father died of cancer, aged 62.
During her stewardship, the business has moved three times, evolving with changes to the high street, fashion and the switch to online selling.
Today, the business employs four people and still retains the family values Mrs McKinlay advocates.
Husband Alastair, a retired former school rector, is deployed as chief ‘delivery boy’, with her two daughters, when back home, assisting with social-media marketing and orders.
Speaking about her mum’s achievement, daughter Lianne MacLennan, said: “Her work is more than a passion, it is who she is.”
Describing her mother as “too modest” to speak about past, or present, achievements, she continued: “She is a grafter, gets on with things and would never see anyone stuck.
“Her focus has always been on the customers and the community. Her view is that you get out of something what you put in.
“I know her father would be proud of where she has taken the business today and as a family we are all proud of her hard work and achievements, but we can’t see her ever retiring.
“It’s been her life, really. She grew up working in the shop and literally slept in flower boxes, as have I, my sister, Laura, and my son, Mason, at various times,” she added
“Her heart is in it, which is probably the key thing. She feels privileged to be part of the community she grew up in and she’s taught my sister and I a lot of skills. She’s an inspiration.”