Florist Lesley Adams is helping businesses flourish in Brighouse.

As well as running her own busy shop, Simply Flowers, Lesley somehow finds time to chair the Brighouse Business Initiative – helping co-ordinate a series of events throughout the year with the aim of boosting the local economy.

Lesley and her fellow committee members are just drawing breath following the hugely successful – but incredibly hectic – 1940s weekend, which saw an estimated 120,000 people descend on the town to recreate the wartime spirit.

“The 1940s weekend was massive,” says Lesley. “We had people coming from all over the country – Carlisle, Oxfordshire and Teeside. The event generated over £1m of revenue for the town.

“During the week before, my phone was ringing constantly – and all the calls were about the 1940s weekend. It’s the third one we have run and they get bigger all the time. We have had a debrief to see how it went – and we are effectively already planning for next year!”

Other events planned in 2015 include a summer market and music festival in August, a Victorian Christmas market in late November and – for the first time – a Comedy Festival to take place in September.

The Brighouse Business Initiative has about 40 member firms, but the real work falls to a small number of people. “You try to do as much as you can outside office hours, but that’s not always possible,” says Lesley. And she makes no bones about the reason for all that effort. “It’s about finding ways to get people into Brighouse to spend money,” she says.

The group meets monthly to plan events and tackle issues affecting local businesses. “There is always something going on and something to plan,” she says. “People always raise issues about parking or business rates bills, but there’s not much we can do about that.”

Lesley hails from Kendal in the Lake District, but moved to Brighouse 20 years ago. She fell in love with floristry when she worked at a fruit and veg shop, which also sold flowers. She had planned to go to university to do a degree in biology – but has never regretted her decision not to follow the academic path. “I’d had enough of schooling,” she says flatly. “I wanted to get out there and do something.”

She worked for another florist business before deciding to set up on her own – and move from her home town.

She says: “My partner’s sister lives at Southowram and her husband suggested Brighouse as somewhere for us to start the business.”

Simply Flowers started in premises on Commercial Street, where it operates for 10 years before Lesley decided to move elsewhere in the town. Now Lesley runs the business from a quirky little shop tucked in an alley way off Commercial Street.

“Quite by accident I saw a For Sale sign and we decided to buy it,” she says. “The outside was overgrown and the premises had been built as offices, but we managed to block all that out and imagine the potential of the place.”

The property includes living accommodation above the shop, which is now home to Lesley, Warren, their three cats and two dogs. There is also a sunny roof gardens for them to enjoy.

Creating the shop area meant knocking down an internal wall to provide space to show off the flowers. Lesley is also qualified to teach floristry and holds classes in another room adjacent to the shop.

“We had a fortnight to move in,” she recalls. “It was hard work. We were moving our home and business at the same time. I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone – but we managed to do it.”

There are three florists in Brighouse, but Lesley says there’s plenty of custom to go round. “The secret is to provide good service, value for money and long-lasting flowers,” she says. “A lot of it is down to good customer service and being good at what you are doing. It’s not rocket science.”

Lesley Adams, Simply Flowers, Commercial Street, Brighouse.

Lesley has two long-serving and loyal employees, but has no shortage of things to keep her busy. What spare time she has is spent making candles for sale in the shop.

“We got some nice furniture in from the Overgate Hospice shop then asked ourselves: ‘What are we going to put on there?’ So, we decided to make our own scented candles. How hard can that be? There was a lot of trial and error at first. We use soya wax, which has to be heated to the right temperature and we have to create the right proportions of fragrances.”

The result is a range of scented candles gift-wrapped in ribbons and including unusual ingredients such as dark chocolate, black cherry, cranberry and marmalade and sloe gin and blackberry. Customers order Candles by Simply Flowers from as far afield as Birmingham.

“It complements the floristry side of the business,” says Lesley. “And it’s nice to have a product that doesn’t go off!”

Flowers remain the backbone of the business with weddings and funerals especially keeping the team busy.

“We are just moving into summer flowers,” says Lesley. “The country look is popular with a lot of blues and creams and lilacs. In a few months, it will be autumn russets and reds.”

Lesley also enjoys running flower arranging classes. The three-week courses teach participants how to make items such as Christmas wreaths – and they take home what they make. “We have got a lot of regular customers through the flower classes,” says Lesley. “They enjoy coming and like what we do – and come to us for bouquets and what not.

“There is a skill in picking the right combinations of flowers, especially in terms of colours.”

With the little spare time she gets, Lesley enjoys reading, meals out and gardening. “Living above the shop means you are tied to it, but it makes life easier,” she says.

Role: Owner

Age: 47

Family: Partner Warren

Holidays: Anywhere hot and sunny that doesn’t have mobile phone reception!

Car: Skoda Estate. It’s our delivery vehicle. It’s amazing how much stuff you can get into an estate care

First job: I started working at the age of 13 with a Saturday job in a fruit and veg shop

Best thing about the job? Every day is different

Worst thing about the job? Winter weather. We can’t have a warm shop when you’re selling flowers, so when it’s cold outside, it’s cold inside

Business tip: Whatever you are doing in business, it’s all about customer service

Work: Floristry

Site: Commercial Street, Brighouse

Phone: W01484 400664

Email: lesley@simplyflowers.co.uk

Web: www.simplyflowers.co.uk