Fourteen ago, I did what turned out to be one of the smartest things ever.  I appointed Therese Phillips, Eyebright Shop Manager.   From that moment, year on year, Eyebright got better and better.  More appealing, innovative and sound as a business.

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Fourteen years is a significant chunk of life.  In that time, family circumstances and desires change.  So does physical ability.  Eyebright, in all its loveliness, came to dominate Therese’s life, and she needed to create space for other things.  The time came for a reapportioning of her time and energy.  This has been done.

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Therese is still Eyebright's buyer, merchandiser (those awesome Eyebright displays) and silk flower florist, but has shed the rest.  For example, I have taken over the staff rostering, Kathie Russell has assumed leadership in the wool shop, and Trish Nicolson, our newest staff member, is responsible for incoming stock.  A tsunami of Christmas décor flows into our stock room, and with guidance from Therese, Trish processed most of it.

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Therese’s family and Seb, the dog, have been the big winners in the new look ‘Life of Therese’.  She is now available to step up whenever necessary for almost four- year-old Arabella, one-year- old Luca, and Sebs delinquent behaviour, (such as digging up the garden and rolling in the most disgusting things he can find), has abated.  When Therese is at home he follows her everywhere.    When she’s not, he gets up to mischief.

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Therese’s dressmaking skills lay in wait during the years that she dedicated to Eyebright.  Now they have burst into full bloom.  Like her mother and grandmother, she is an expert seamstress, and you can tap into her talents.  She has launched a clothing alterations business from her garage, and called it ‘the MAKER room’.  Therese can tweak that item that you’d love to love, but it just isn’t quite right.  For example: altering trousers, or the length of a sleeve or a hem. 

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Contact her by texting 027 896 4403.

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As the years go by things change around us, and in ourselves.  Wise people take stock and make adjustments.  Therese has reconfigured her life to optimise her talents, pursue her own enterprise, while still residing at the heart of Eyebright.