How did the calendars begin?
Jane Gillett says: 'I am a trained nurse and midwife. In 1974, while working in the Maternity Unit at Shrewsbury Hospital, I met Bob and Margaret, whose son Tim, was born there. They ran a gift shop in town, and Margaret, who knew of my design experience, said: "What we need is an 'at a glance' calendar, with the diary of the whole year on one page. Will you design one for us?"
The calendars sold well. Each year Bob and Margaret put an ad in the local paper announcing; 'Jane Gillett's calendars are in stock again for the New Year'. Soon the calendars brought customers into the shop, who would naturally, buy other gifts and Christmas presents while they were there.
The calendars have become the ideal Christmas present. There is literally a panic if someone is given another Christmas present, instead of the expected calendar! People's lives come to a halt - or so we are told!
The feedback we receive from regular customers is quite extraordinary. Folks write, phone or email to say how practical, decorative and indispensible the calendars are.
When I was young I loved art, and was also very good at geometry. Inspired by my father, who had wonderful copper-plate handwriting, I would often be found at a desk, or the dining table, happily absorbed in design. As I grew up these skills went into cold storage, until one day, at work, a poster was needed for a white elephant sale. This led to me designing other posters for shops. One particular poster, 'Desiderata', which was a hit song in the 70's, had first come out in prose. I wrote out the lyrics several times by hand, and this was very effective.
These posters sold well in shops, but writing out each one by hand became rather laborious. So - why not go into print, do the marketing, keep accounts? This I did. The revenues from this enterprise enabled me to fund research into various aspects of maternity care that interested me.
Many clients met my Mother while ordering calendars over the phone. She was always so pleased to help by taking orders, and she enjoyed the annual conversations she had with charming people. Since the year 2000, I've been in partnership with Sue Walsh. What a difference her enthusiasm and expertise have made. Together we plan to hit the World Wide Web, and make these unique calendars available to a much wider market. The sky's the limit. Once you've seen one, you'll want one!
The calendar enterprise is now 35 years old. The design and layout have developed and improved with time, often thanks to customers' suggestions. Now the calendar fits on the back of a door, has thirteen months, and highlights the weekends, moon phases and bank holidays. The diary part is achieved by technology, but the actual artwork for the border design is entirely hand drawn, and the result of at least l00 hours work.
The good things about calendars is - you'll need a new one every year!'
-Jane Gillett