A rollercoaster year
Phew! 2017 has been a rollercoaster year for us. Let’s make no bones about it – we had hoped that our float centre would be open and we’d be floating you guys by now! The first thing to say is that we greatly appreciate your patience, and all the support and interest we have received so far. You’ve helped us to know that we are on the right path!
The plan took off
2017 was the year the Float in the Forest plan took off. We developed our business plan, and built on our sturdy foundation of research about the floatation industry. Even though our centre is not open yet, we already feel part of the float community, having made friends in various float centres around the UK, and learned lots from them.
Float connections
We’ve built a good relationship with a float pod manufacturer who came down to visit us in the Forest of Dean and loved the beauty of the area. We’re also working with a float consultant who runs a float centre all the way in sunny Portland USA, which is a hive of floatation activity and development.
We met lots of lovely people
Shari has done lots of networking, and met some great people while visiting groups in the Forest, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Ross and Hereford. We’re looking forward to getting out to lots more next year. A networking highlight for Shari was being instrumental in the formation of Forest Wellbeing – a new group for holistic practitioners in the Forest of Dean. This group has lots of exciting plans for health and wellbeing in the Forest area, and we’re proud to be a part of it. We’ve also joined the Wye Valley & Forest of Dean Tourism Association and are looking forward to being an attraction!
Getting out there
We enjoyed having stands at three different events this year. Float in the Forest was in the Forest Wellbeing marquee at the Forest Activities Festival at Speech House, at the Forest Warrior, and the Mind Body & Spirit show in Chepstow. We found that events like these are a great way to reach people, to explore what floatation is all about with them, and answer any questions they may have. There’s nothing quite like talking to people!
Getting creative
We’ve loved working with Andy from Squiff Creative Media. Andy created our wonderful logo, put together our beautiful leaflets and banners, and made two excellent videos to capture how floating can feel. We’re proud to appear on his website as an example of his fabulous work.
Locations
And now onto locations. We have considered 15 potential locations for our float centre, and pursued them to varying degrees. It has been a learning experience for us.
We have realised how few commercial premises are available in the Forest of Dean, and how constraining our requirements can be. We are determined to find the best place we can, but have also accepted we may have to re-prioritise our criteria. It may not be possible to find perfection… but this is a good lesson for us all.
Please continue to bear with us. We have got something potentially exciting in the pipeline, and we will continue working hard on this until we have secured where Float in the Forest will be, and on towards opening.
Our website has grown
In the mean time we have developed our website, where you can find loads of information about floating, blog posts on everything from claustrophobia to snowboarding, and more. Have a look around!
We have also been busy on Facebook, Twitter, and more recently Instagram, so please check us out on those too. Our email list is growing all the time, which is awesome.
Festive wishes
That’s nearly it from us for now.
We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Stay tuned for further Float in the Forest developments in 2018!
Yours floatily,
Shari & Will
