Blogging.. well this is a new concept for me so I am definitely on a learning curve. Best place to start? Why not tell you a bit about me.
I was born in the very late 60's, and have been a self-employed Bookseller since 2018, my dream job.
I was brought up in Lichfield, Staffordshire. A beautiful Cathedral City in the West Midlands. Steeped in history, from the Roman settlement at Wall, to the Cathedral which dates back to St Chad. There's links to the Civil War and tunnels underneath the city used to hide the King during those troubled times. Add in the macabre finding of dead bodies whenever serious excavation takes place, Lichfield certainly lives up to the translation of its name which means "field of the dead". If you ever visit the cathedral, there is a large hump in the road on the South side of the Cathedral which is the final resting place of a large amount of roundheads and cavaliers from the afore mentioned Civil War.
Growing up I discovered the love of books at a very early age. I used to save my pocket money so I could go and buy more Famous Five books, Joan Lingard and more. My poor mother could not keep up with me and I joined all the libraries in the local area, even Birmingham Central Library.
I enjoyed my time at the local comprehensive school from 1981-88 where I continued to fuel my love of books, but also discovered music. Not just heavy metal (my go to music to listen to) I learnt to play the Clarinet and Saxophone while I was at school, which took me on tour to Europe and to play in the schools proms. I continued this until 1990 when work got in the way and had to leave the local Bands to pursue my career.
In 1985 I started work at The Staffs Bookshop part-time on Saturdays where I learnt all about Antiquarian Books, which led me to then work for Hudson’s Bookshop in the centre of Birmingham from 1988 until 1994. This later became Dillons the Bookstore, and finally Waterstones before its closure in the early part of this century.
I then went on to work for the Britannia Building Society, moving through the ranks until I became a Manager at Matlock Branch in 2001. Later I went to work for the Alliance and Leicester Plc as a Mortgage Advisor before finally heading for a job in Housing Options helping people who had found themselves homeless, before leaving employment for my growing family.
In 2004 I welcomed my daughter into the world followed by my eldest son. I then found myself a single Mum. Later I met my now husband and we have two more boys, making our family complete. This year sees my youngest head off to secondary school, and the end of a 13 year era as a parent at the junior school.
I set my business up in January 2019 following the unexpected death of my Mum at Christmas 2018. The shock and need to grieve made me evaluate my life. I was already running our local Market and selling handmade craft. I was doing ok but the crafts did not excite me. The revelation came at Mum's funeral that I should make my business about what I know - Books. And so Bizy Lizy Books was born.
Watch out for my next blog where I will explain how I started my business from just 1 box of books.
Picture is of me and my mother on my wedding day in July 2016.
