A CRZyBest Review of 2024

January 2024

Started with a snowed off shift in The Derbyshire Makers shop at Peak Village... I could get there on the bus from Derby, but apparently all roads north of Rowsley were closed.

I had an opticians appointment, which confirmed my eyes were fine, I just needed a new prescription!

Careers talks at my old secondary school, hoping to add a bit of creativity to their portfolio of inspiration. Other businesses and career pathways giving talks are generally the NHS, Toyota, Rolls Royce, RAF, Severn Trent, Police and the local college...

Two more January Derbyshire maker shop shifts which went well and an appearance on the Radio. I also hosted the first Derby People Planet Pint of 2024, in the fabulous cellar bar of The Flowerpot.

February 2024 saw me catching the train to London for a visit to The House of lords with Small Business Britain.

The second People Planet Pint of the year was held, with plans discussed for our 2nd birthday next month.

The last weekend of February saw the brand new Derby Uncovered shop opening on Sadler Gate. I also attended my first CRZyBest Pink Bar event of 2024, a wedding fair at The Museum of Making.

In the last week of February 2024 I gave a one to one workshop, teaching a customer how to make their very own silver clay dog. Later the same week, on the last day of February I attended training for the new Derby City Lab, which was now going to be housed in the Derbion Shopping Centre, a wholly different experience to the original St James Street venue.

March 2024

My first CRZyBest Pink Bar event of March and swapping from wedding to market mode within the week, saw me at The Garage Chilwell, where I think I can now call myself a regular!

We celebrated the 2nd year of People Planet Pint Derby, with plans to make our 3rd birthday in march 2025 even better!

More Careers talks at a Secondary School, another appearance on Radio Derby and then something a bit different. I had been invited to give a talk under the 'Ask the Entrepreneur' banner of Derby University and I included a mini pop-up within the event, a little taste of things to eventually come. The following week I was the speaker at Creative Mornings, an event I have attended for a few years as an audience member, so that was an interesting turn. I was give the global theme of 'Vibrant' to talk about, which I was told suited me perfectly!

The day after my vibrant talk, I was at a two day Pink Bar event at the Old Library, a building attached to where I had given my talk, so I was able to point out of the window and give a big shout out for the first Derby Uncovered event of 2024.

The following weekend I was filled with nostalgia, going back to where we had our wedding for The Donington Park Farmhouse Spring Fair. The one in 2023 had been amazing and I love the venue and owners whom I have known for years, so I had high hopes for this one day Spring event. I learnt same venue, with a change of organiser, can make very big differences.

I also picked up the Derbyshire Open Arts brochures, ready for distribution to Derby participants, an enjoyable task as I get to meet other artists taking part that I might not have met otherwise.

April 2024 started with some time to recuperate over Easter and then it was our 10th wedding celebrations. We found a local beer festival that was dog friendly, so spent the day at Bustler, enjoying some tasty beer. My favourite combination is 'Dogs & Beer' and this year I planned to shout out more about my favourite CRZyBest creative niche.

This month saw me starting out on the Small & Mighty programme with Small Business Britain, a serious of 6 workshops to support building my business.

May 2024 was pretty busy with events and shop shifts. The Derbyshire Makers shop opened as permanent shop on May 1st and I was one of the two makers given the first shift for opening day!

May Bank Holiday weekend I was lucky enough to not be working and we were able to attend the dog friendly beer festival at The Garage Chilwell. This year I've been given May 4th as a date to attend their Sunday Market, so I may have to give the beer festival a miss on the 3rd, which I am a little sad about, but hopefully I will still be able to enjoy my favourite 'Dogs & Beer' atmosphere, from my pink bar!

A Derbyshire Makers shop shift was mid week, before my May 2024 Pink Bar event at The Garage Market. The following day I travelled to London, to the Royal Academy for the launch of the Green Growth Report for Small Businesses. It was a fabulous, positive event hosted by Small Business Britain, with a variety of speakers in a fitting place to be talking about sustainability and looking after our planet, whilst growing our businesses.

I had a weekend off Pink Bar events, which gave me an opportunity to prepare my CRZyBest Shedquarters for Derbyshire Open Arts, only my 2nd time taking part in this well established trail which covers the whole of Derbyshire.

May to June 2024 still to come...