Barrow's Special Occasions gift shop celebrates its tenth birthday

Special Occasions Barrow, on Crellin Street, marked its tenth year of operation on November 9.

Owned and operated by Donna Dacre, the gift shop has grown into a successful community business with a dedicated customer base.

Known for its range of personalised gifts and popular Bear’s house for the children, Special Occasions has recently been noticed for its Remembrance Day window display that was crafted from over 200 poppies.

Donna said: “We’ve been in Barrow all of our lives and we’re very happy with what we’ve built here.

“We celebrated our birthday on November 9.

"We used to be across the road for our first year of business, but then we bought the shop where it is today and spent nine years here.

“It’s flown by.

"I’ve enjoyed it so much.

"I had to double check the years when it happened because it went so quick.

“My children Olivia and Elisha help me out in the shop.

"When we first started, they were four and nine.

"Now Olivia is in secondary school and Elisha is in university.

“It’s difficult to say what is the key to keeping a business going so long but I would say you need patience, dedication, and vision.

"We love putting new things out there for people and we want to keep them interested.

"We have a lot of personalised items for people and the kids really like the giant six-foot bear we have in our shop.

"They come and take pictures with it. It’s almost as big as me.

“We got a lot of nice responses for our Remembrance Day display.

"We had some very nice messages on social media.

“There are about 200 poppies and buttons in it and it looks really good at night.

“We also used our own machines to cut out the silhouette of the soldier.

“I had it in mind for 100 poppies but it just grew.

"It took us about two days to get it together.

“Together I work with my daughters Olivia and Elisha, my sister Nicola, our friend Cheryl who handles social media and my husband.

“Here’s to ten more years.”