On the 13th November 2023 we stood and watched as everything we had worked so hard for burned to the ground.
Running a woodworking business comes with various risks, you can never be complacent when using tools or machines, and you have to ensure you have procedures and routines in place which minimise the risk of all kinds of danger, including fire.
When we shut up the workshop for the day on the 13th November we ran through our close down procedure as we always do and we locked up knowing that we had done everything we could to ensure we would open up again the next day...what we hadn't realised was that one of our neighbouring workshops hadn't been as cautious as us.
Getting the phone call that a workshop near to ours was on fire that evening was a very surreal experience. As we headed over we discussed what more we could do to secure us from external risks, we just didn't realise what we were about to see.
We could see the fire way before we got near to our workshop, but there was still a chance. As we pulled up our workshop was in darkness, an inferno raging a couple of units down. We put our faith in the firefighters and could do nothing but watch.
Then the flames touched the edge of our workshop, we began telling ourselves that we may only lose a wall and that we would recover from that...what we didn't know was that the air in our workshop had already heated up to a combustible level, and as the firefighters entered through our roller shutter door we could only watch as the air ignited...like something from an action movie.
We stood for over 4 hours, and within that time it was all gone. I wish I could say I cried, but tears couldn't make their way through the shock. Instead we had a cup of tea by the smouldering remains of our business and talked about how this would not break us.
Shock is a funny thing in that you don't know you were in it until you aren't in it anymore. It wasn't until a while later, when we sent an email to our customers in which we thanked people for their kindness and support that the tears came. Perhaps that's the thing, disaster doesn't shake us as much as the unexpected kindness of others.
Rebuilding has been a challenge, both mentally and financially, we are fulfilling orders, working hard, and trying to get the insurers to pay out.
The majority of our customers have been amazing. If you have never experienced this kind of loss then we know it must be hard to understand how you don't just get up the next day and go again, it takes a bit of time.
We are almost up to full speed again, something we have to thank good friends and family for. Not just because of the help they provided but because sometimes it just takes knowing someone believes in you for you to believe in yourself.
Our hope is that 2024 is the kind of year that makes us forget the hardship 2023 put us through, and that it is the same for every one of our customers and supporters!