Team News – May 2026

Published on May 15, 2026 by Blackstone

Trips:

The pace of life in the office rarely slows down for long, so it’s always good to hear when the team manage to properly switch off and enjoy some well-earned time away.

Josie has recently returned from ten days in Jamaica with her husband. Most impressively of all, for the first time in many years she didn’t take her laptop with her! A proper break, with sunshine, sea, and very little temptation to check emails.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Louise Hebson spent a day at Legoland with her husband and their son. Judging by the photos, I suspect Louise enjoyed the rides as much as Franklin.

Sheneen’s Recovery

One person who has been very much missed around the office this year is Sheneen, who has been off work since January following complex knee surgery.

Anyone who’s been through recovery from an operation will know that patience is often the hardest part. Whilst the surgery itself may only take a matter of hours, the process of getting back to full strength can feel considerably longer — particularly for someone who isn’t naturally very good at sitting still!

Sheneen is now making good progress and is due to begin a phased return to work from next week. We’re all looking forward to having her back in the office again.

It’s been a good reminder for all of us that health has a way of forcing us to slow down occasionally, whether we want to or not. Much like financial planning, recovery often requires patience, consistency, and accepting that progress doesn’t always happen in a straight line.

We’re very pleased to see Sheneen on the mend and look forward to supporting her return over the coming weeks and months.

Collaboration and Cake!

Back in the office, we recently held one of our quarterly planning sessions as a team. These meetings give us the opportunity to step back from the day-to-day work and properly reflect on what’s going well, where we can improve, and the challenges we want to solve as the business continues to grow. Those conversations are always valuable, particularly when everyone brings different perspectives and ideas to the table.

Importantly, the meeting began in exactly the right way — with food! Josie had baked a celebratory cake for both Gareth and Louise Watson as we’ve each reached rather significant birthdays this year.

It’s easy for businesses to become entirely focused on targets, tasks and to do lists, but taking time to celebrate milestones together all play a part in building the sort of team culture we value.

And thankfully, there was enough cake left over to bring home for tea (just!).