openbarbers

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One stop shop for changes in July!

Open Barbers is seeing a lot of change at the moment, and it all seems to be happening in July 2022! Please see below for a little summary: On Friday 1st July we will be introducing our new pricing communications, giving more structure and guidance to our sliding scale policy. Read more here. On Saturday 2nd July we welcome the return of Jilna Shah, offering craniosacral therapy in our back room once a month! Check out her website for more information on her practice and how to book. On Sunday 3rd July Felix will be working his last day at Open Barbers! We’re extremely sad to say goodbye but wish him ALL the best in his new career. Read more here. On Monday 4th July we welcome 2 new stylists: Davidas and Hugo! Click on their names to read more about them and see their portfolios! Appointments go live on Monday 20th June.  We are also changing our opening times from Monday 4th July. We will be opening at 10.30am Monday to Thursday, and 9.30am on Friday & Saturday, and we will be CLOSED on Sundays! Find out more about our opening hours and our new team schedules here to help you book appointments going forwards. If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact Greygory or Toddy at openbarbers@gmail.com

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Welcome Hugo! From 4th July 2022, we are delighted to welcome Hugo as a new stylist to the Open Barbers team!  You can book in with Hugo on our online booking system from Monday 20th June! Hugo will work Mondays & Tuesdays, and monthly on Saturdays to begin with, offering appointments: Ad.  Fringe OR undercut OR back & sides tidy ups only (not skin fade or full haircut) - 30 mins Ca.  Short back and sides (with clippers and scissors on top) - 60 mins With 45 minute appointments to follow when they settle in.  Hi! I'm Hugo (they/them). I'm a self taught barber working for the past 3 years in London, mostly at a small barbershop in Barbican. I'm very passionate about cutting hair and I’m comfortable working with all hair textures. At Open Barbers I will start by offering crisp fades, razor work, precision cutting, alternative styles, beard shaping and creative requests. I like merging different styles, combining old fashioned and modern together. I hope later to expand into longer hair styling services but for now, I’ll be working on shorter hairstyles. I can be quiet or chatty while working, and I love the challenge of delivering exactly what my clients want, to the best of my ability. I continue learning every day and I enjoy stepping out of my comfort zone. I encourage you to be fussy on my appointments, bring photos for inspiration if you'd like and let's chat about your hair needs in detail! I first imagined myself working with hair and enjoying it several years ago, soon after receiving a cut that wasn't right for me, based on assumptions made about me/my gender by the stylist (sadly a common experience for the trans community). I'm so proud and excited to be working with, and for my own community now, continuously questioning social conventions existing around hair. Check out more of Hugo’s work on their instagram.

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Welcome Davidas! From 4th July 2022, we are delighted to welcome Davidas as a new stylist to the Open Barbers team!  You can book in with Davidas on our online booking system from Monday 20th June! Davidas will work Mondays & Wednesdays - Fridays and monthly Saturdays to begin with, offering appointments: Ad.  Fringe OR undercut OR back & sides tidy ups only (not skin fade or full haircut) - 30 mins Cb.  Simple trim: any hair length- 60 mins E. Change of style haircut - any hair length - 90 mins With 45 minute appointments to follow when they settle in.  Hi, I’m Davidas! (they / them). I have been a hairstylist for 11 years and I am experienced working with any hair type and density, from straight to coily hair and of any length. I enjoy scissor cutting to create different shapes, texture and movement. I also use clippers to achieve a very short uniform effect or undercut, faded and tailored hairlines.  I have been fortunate to gain my hairdressing skills in London. By living and working within a multicultural society, this has allowed me to embrace changes in cultural styles and fashion over the years. Having the fortune to work with Open Barbers is a highlight in my career. I am grateful for the opportunity to meet new people and I aim to create a transcendental experience using my professional skills. It is an exciting moment to work within my community. 

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Changes in salon hours from July 2022

From 4th July 2022 we will see some changes to our salon opening hours and team working hours. Please see more information below:  Mondays 10.30am - 9pm AM: Leidy PM: Davidas, Hugo, Leidy, Nell Tuesdays 10.30am - 9pm AM: Leidy PM: Adae, Greygory, Hugo, Leidy, Mable Wednesdays  10.30am - 9pm AM: Leidy, Mable PM: Adae, Davidas, Greygory, Leidy, Mable,  Thursdays 10.30am - 9pm AM: Greygory, Leidy PM: Davidas, Leidy, Nell Fridays 9.30am - 5pm AM: Leidy, Nell PM: Davidas, Leidy, Nell Saturdays 9.30am - 5pm ALL DAY: Greygory, Tass (Davidas, Hugo, Nell work once a month, Greygory off once a month) Sundays CLOSED Please note: staff working hours are subject to changes at any time due to holidays, sickness and schedule changes. Please see staff profiles on our website for updates to schedule changes. 

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Open Barbers - Price changes from 1st July 2022 From 1st July 2022, we are changing how we communicate and offer guidance around our prices. Please see the above image for a table of suggested prices for our services and a ‘what should I pay’ guide. (also featured in this googledoc for screenreaders.) Since day one of founding Open Barbers, we have offered services on a ‘sliding scale’ principle. We wish to remain welcoming and affordable to everyone in our community, and we don't want anyone to feel priced out of our services, however we need to introduce clearer guidelines to our sliding scale prices, to ensure that we can cover the costs of our community business.

Why have we had to make this change?

1. We haven't provided much structure to our sliding scale price range before, and we have realised that we have been making an overall loss on all our services for the past few years.   2. Thanks to a few grants during the lockdown periods of the pandemic we were able to plug those losses and subsidise all our services and keep prices low, but those grants have now ended.  3. Business costs continue to rise since the start of the pandemic, including staff wage rises, products costs, energy bills and other overheads. 4. We have noticed that average client payments on the sliding scale have dropped in the past year. 5. This news report gives a really helpful context to the pricing challenges the hair industry is facing in general. 6. We hope that by providing clearer guidance on our costs, clients can make informed choices about what to pay, balancing their own means with our needs as a business to survive and thrive. We hope that those who can afford to pay more, or sign up to our Patreon, will do so to enable those in our community who are struggling to continue to access our services. 

We hope this answers any questions you may have, but if you have any further queries at all please don't hesitate to reach out at openbarbers@gmail.com

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Dear Felix: goodbye & good luck! We will miss you.

It is with huge sadness, but also pride and encouragement that we announce that our dear co-founder Felix is leaving Open Barbers. His last day will be Sunday 3rd July 2022. Felix will be starting a new career in policy research and trans advocacy. He’s been studying hard towards this passion as many of his clients already know and have been supporting and inspiring him along the way.  Felix says: “This is an exciting new chapter for me, one that I have been working towards for the last 2 years, doing my Masters and stepping down as a Director, so I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a shock. I am so thankful to have had the past 11 years here and I will miss my colleagues and many of my clients very much. Being part of Open Barbers has been a privilege, a truly life changing experience, and I will always look back on my time here very fondly.” While we are all heartbroken to lose him from the salon, we wish him well with his career change and can’t wait for his updates when he returns as a client! We know he will be a wonderful champion in this new role and we are delighted that he has achieved this goal. If you wish to send any messages of support for Felix please email Grey & Toddy at openbarbers@gmail.com and we will be sure to pass them on.

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APPOINTMENT RELEASE CHANGES

We are delighted to announce changes to when we release appointments for haircuts, and how far in advance! On Monday 2nd May 2022 we will start releasing appointments 2 weeks in advance. On this day, all appointments from Mon 9th - Mon 16th May will open at once! Appointments will be opened DAILY at some point BETWEEN 1 - 2pm for the same day of the week, 2 weeks in advance. (Except Sundays which will also open on Saturdays) The new pattern, from Monday 2nd May: Mondays, 1-2pm: for Monday in 2 weeks Tuesdays, 1-2pm: for Tuesday in 2 weeks Wednesdays, 1-2pm: for Wednesday in 2 weeks Thursdays, 1-2pm: for Thursday in 2 weeks Fridays, 1-2pm: 1-2pm: for Friday in 2 weeks Saturdays, 1-2pm: for Saturday & Sunday in 2 weeks Please note:

1. We can’t give a more specific time for releasing appointments than ‘between 1-2pm’ as they are opened manually by our admin humans, and this window is what we can comfortably commit to. It does mean that more appointments are only 1 day away! 2. We don’t have capacity to make daily announcements on social media when the appointments have gone live, so please refresh your pages between 1-2pm and they will appear.  In good news, our capacity is on the rise! We have already reinstated shorter appointments (30 and 45 mins) and are working hard to increase our availability to meet the demand for our services! Thank you for your ongoing patience and support. If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact Toddy or Grey at openbarbers@gmail.com and we will be happy to help!

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Winter holidays opening hours & team update!

Please see below changes to our usual opening hours for the winter holidays 2021: Thu 23rd Dec - 1.30 - 9pm with Greygory & Richard Fri 24th Dec - closed Sat 25th Dec - closed Sun 26th Dec - closed Mon 27th Dec - closed Tue 28th Dec - 9.30am - 5pm with Greygory & Richard Wed 29th Dec - 1.30am - 5pm with Greygory (& Mable - existing bookings only)  Thu 30th Dec - 1.30am - 5pm with Greygory, Meg & Richard Fri 31st Dec - closed Sat 1st Jan - closed Sun 2nd Jan - closed Further team update: Leidy is away from 17th Dec 2021 for at least 3 weeks Adae  is now away until end of Jan 2022 Ori Hair Care / Tobi is now away until Feb 2022 Due to the risks of staff cancellation as a result of COVID-19, we continue to open new bookings on Mondays at 9.30am and Thursdays at 7.30pm for the following 7 - 10 days ahead through our online booking system.  We wish you a peaceful and restful winter holiday season. xx

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Big changes at Open Barbers!

Open Barbers has seen some significant changes within our leadership team in recent months, which we’d now like to take the opportunity to share with you. 

In 2020, Felix and Greygory invited our fantastic employee Toddy Peters to join our leadership team and become an official Director (and she accepted!) Over the past year, she has been busy keeping Open Barbers afloat during the extremely testing times of the coronavirus pandemic, and we honestly don’t know where we would be without her! We are delighted to now take this opportunity to announce her role as Director with Open Barbers, albeit a little belatedly, and to extend our heartfelt gratitude to her for bringing a much needed boost at such a crucial time. 

Toddy says: I am delighted to have been asked to become a Director and have been enjoying learning all that is involved. I am really happy to be able to support Greygory and Felix during this stage, and I hope to be around as Director for the long term! This news is followed by our other big announcement which is that after 10 years growing Open Barbers, and 7 years as a Director, Felix has decided to step down in this role to complete his Masters in Social Research and pursue his interests in this new direction. In good news, he remains a hairstylist at Open Barbers and has increased his salon hours so you may well see more of him! We wish to take this opportunity to reflect on the enormous accomplishments he has made alongside Greygory to create Open Barbers from an ambitious idea to the thriving social enterprise we are today. He will always be the other half of the original leadership team, and we wish him much happiness and success in his next adventures. 

Felix says: I'm very proud to have been working with Open Barbers in this capacity for so long, officially as a Director since 2014, and unofficially in some ways before that, and it is not without sadness that this change is being made. Overall though, I’m moving in a new direction, and so it feels like the right decision at the right time, and I hope you can all support me and the rest of the team to make this transition. We welcome anyone to get in touch with happy memories and messages of support for Felix at openbarbers@gmail.com and we look forward to continuing to work with him in the salon for the foreseeable future!

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We’re excited and delighted to welcome guest stylist Alyx from Queer Cuts London to pop up for 2 days at Open Barbers on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th September 2021, 9.30am - 5pm. Alyx will be offering 2 types of appointment: Cd. Simple trim: (scissors only - from pixie cuts to long lengths) with guest stylist Alyx of Queer Cuts London, 17th & 18th Sept Eb. Change of style haircut: (scissors only - from pixie cuts to long lengths) with guest stylist Alyx of Queer Cuts London, 17th & 18th Sept (please note Alyx does not work with clippers and has limited experience with Afro textured hair types).

Bookings go live (along with our usual menu) on Thursday 9th September at 7.30pm through our online booking system.

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Welcome guest stylist Alyx from Queer Cuts London: 17th & 18th Sept!

We’re excited and delighted to welcome guest stylist Alyx from Queer Cuts London to pop up for 2 days at Open Barbers on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th September 2021, 9.30am - 5pm. Alyx will be offering 2 types of appointment: Cd. Simple trim: (scissors only - from pixie cuts to long lengths) with guest stylist Alyx of Queer Cuts London, 17th & 18th Sept Eb. Change of style haircut: (scissors only - from pixie cuts to long lengths) with guest stylist Alyx of Queer Cuts London, 17th & 18th Sept (please note Alyx does not work with clippers and has limited experience with Afro textured hair types)

Bookings go live (along with our usual menu) on Thursday 9th September at 7.30pm through our online booking system. Have a look at the amazing a gorgeous styles Alyx can do on our tumblr gallery! Alyx has been a hairstylist for 11 years starting their career at Toni&Guy working with some amazing stylists. They assisted on photoshoots and hair shows and later started freelance work while studying fashion design at university. Let’s hear from Alyx!: Queer Cuts was born out of my desire to provide a welcoming, accepting space for members of the queer community to achieve the hair of their dreams. Having trained and worked in a hair salon myself, I recognised that gendered pricing and gender norms are such a huge part of traditional salon experiences, and being non-binary myself -- this is something I found challenging to navigate, and speaking with friends and clients, I knew I was not alone. By crafting my own space for LGBTQIA+ and gender non-conforming clients, I can apply the skills and knowledge I've gained from over a decade of hair styling to help clients feel their most authentic selves, celebrate their individuality and provide them with practical, non-judgemental tips and advice to care for their hair. Queer Cuts is here for anyone and everyone ready to feel completely and unapologetically themselves, from someone who understands just how important hair can be in expressing your identity. You can follow Alyx and see more of their work on their Instagram.

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APPOINTMENTS RELEASE: CHANGE IN SCHEDULE!

From Monday 3rd May, new appointments will be released: Mondays: 9.00am Thursdays: 7.30pm Appointments are released 7 - 10 days in advance. Book online. More detail here.

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How do I book an appointment?

Based on client feedback, we have tried a few different ways of releasing new appointments through our online booking system, and we always seek to be as accessible as possible. While there remains a risk of salon closure if there is a case of COVID-19 among the team, we’ve settled on releasing appointments twice a week, up to 10 days ahead, until further notice. From Monday 3rd May, new appointments will be released: Mondays at 9.00am Thursdays at 7.30pm Please note: as appointments are released manually per stylist, it can take up to 10 minutes for availability to appear so we advise refreshing your browser regularly. Why can’t I find any appointments online?  Demand has always been high at Open Barbers, but since reopening in April 2021, we have noticed further increase. This is likely to be due to a few factors:.

Everyone coming out of lockdown wanting long awaited services now.

We are only releasing appointments up to 10 days in advance as a COVID-19 precaution (in case we need to close).

We have to operate at reduced capacity to stay in line with COVID-19 guidance.

We have attracted new interest from potential clients over the lockdown, partly due to our 10th birthday celebrations.

What is Open Barbers capacity like under COVID-19? Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we can only have up to 3 stylists working in the salon at any one time. Depending on shift length, each stylist can accommodate around 3 - 6 clients a day, and our only colourist Mable can offer around 4 - 8 services per week (see more here). At present, the demand for our services is a lot higher than this and we are very grateful for your patience as our capacity may be limited for some time.

Can I get assistance in booking an appointment? While the fairest system to getting an appointment is the online booking system, we know that for some clients this will never be accessible. If you require access assistance in booking an appointment, we welcome you to contact us. As we don’t ask for evidence of access needs, we rely on clients being fair in their requests for assistance as this invitation is not intended for clients to ‘jump the queue’ if they are able to use the online system (albeit with a bit of patience).

Do you advertise cancellations? We always appreciate it when clients cancel in advance if they can’t attend, by cancelling through their booking confirmation or getting in touch. Where possible, we advertise cancellations on Facebook and Twitter. We recommend you switch on notifications for Open Barbers to be alerted to these more directly. 

We hope this helps address any concerns and frustrations you may be feeling at this time. Rest assured we DO want to welcome all newcomers and we miss ALL our regulars very much and we hope to see you in the salon soon! Feel free to get in touch if you have any further queries. Love all at the OB team!

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How much should I pay for a haircut?

Between lockdowns, our clients frequently ask how the pandemic has affected our costs, so we’ve made a new price guide to help and reassure you around our pricing approach. Below is some information to help you understand our business needs, taking into account both the higher expenses of COVID-19, and also our recent fundraising achievements. This information is also available in the salon next to the till. How much should I pay for a haircut?  We remain committed to our sliding scale pricing policy of £2.00 - £50.00+. We invite you to pay what you can afford for your haircut, and no one is turned away for lack of funds. (Colour and 2hr+ Afro hair services have a separate sliding scale price list). The average amount we currently need to cover our costs is £20 per hour, and anything above this helps to subsidise someone else's haircut. Everyone is welcome, regardless of what you can afford. We find that our average is always achieved when people genuinely pay what they can! What does it cost Open Barbers to cut my hair? Due to the extra costs and time involved in running the salon during COVID-19 restrictions, our business costs have gone up. We also know that some people can’t afford to pay what they used to, and our average payment has gone down. - Before COVID-19, it cost Open Barbers £21.10 per hour to cover costs. - During COVID-19, it costs Open Barbers £26.20 per hour to cover costs. However, we have calculated that we need £20.00 per hour to cover costs because we have other sources of income too, which are described below. How is Open Barbers’ income affected by COVID-19? Our costs have always been subsidised by other sources of income: room hire, merchandise, events, donations and our Patreon scheme; and during COVID-19 we have also been fundraising! - Before COVID-19, 95% of our income came from hair services. - During COVID-19, 75% of our income is coming from hair services. To address this shift, we have raised 17% in grant funding, 4% in crowdfunding, and 4% from other sources (as above). The grants we received in 2020 and 2021, from the Social Enterprise Support Fund and the London Community Response Fund cover core costs, and help us to maintain our sliding scale pricing policy during these hard times. All GoFundMe and Ginger Kitten Crowdfunder donations were directly distributed to the stylists during salon closure. Our most recent birthday fundraising appeal makes up the 4% listed. We hope that helps to clarify any questions you may have around our pricing policy, and we hope it reassures you that whatever you can afford to pay for your hair services, you are welcome and valid and we want to serve you! The Open Barbers Team xxx [Image description: A cardboard sheet is titled ‘Price Guide’ and contains 6 coloured sections. The column to the left are 3 infographics and the column to the left are 3 explanatory texts. Infographic 1: Each segment of a rainbow coloured windmill contains pricing brackets ranging from £2 - 10 up to £50+. Explanatory text 1: “What should I pay for a haircut? We have a ‘sliding scale’ pricing system for haircuts.We invite you to pay what you can afford, from £2 - £50+. £20+ per hour covers our costs, anything above helps others out. Contribute according to your means and keep the Open Barbers’ windmill turning.” Infographic 2: A bar chart showing ‘pre-Covid’ costs are £21.10 and ‘Covid’ costs are £26.20 per hour. The illustration includes a pair of scissors cutting out the costs in red, with an implied income bar behind with eyeballs looking happ, pre covid, and concerned during covid. Explanatory text 2: “What does it cost to run Open Barbers? Pre-COVID-19: We needed £21.10 per hour to cover costs. In COVID-19: We need £26.20 per hour to cover costs. We used to make a tiny bit of profit, In COVID-19, we make a loss. BUT we have been fundraising! See below:” Inforgraphic 3: Two spray bottle contain percentages represented by colours which show the different sources of income ‘pre-Covid’ and during ‘Covid’. Explanatory text 3: “Where does Open Barbers get income? Pre-COVID-19, 95% of our income came from hair services. In COVID-19, 75% of our income is coming from hair services. Fundraising success! 17% Grants: Social Enterprise Support Fund (2020), London Community Response Fund (2021). 4% Crowdfunding (2021) ALL GoFundMe donations went to our stylists directly.”]

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Fundraising announcement!!! Drumroll.....

While the pandemic has put a huge financial strain on Open Barbers, collectively you have responded to this crisis with generosity, belief in our project, hard work, and creativity over the past 12 months - we cannot thank you enough! As a result of your kindness, we have been able to raise enough money to subsidise almost all of our predicted losses for 2021, which is an enormous achievement! See here our fundraising successes over the past month: £9,560 raised from our Crowdfunder appeal £1,220 raised through profit shares listed on our birthday webpage £1,069 raised from the Bar Wotever birthday party  £11,849 grand total raised from our birthday fundraiser appeal!! Woo hoo!!  As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we’re delighted to announce even more good news: We have been awarded £29,125 from the London Community Response Fund administered by City Bridge Trust – the City of London Corporation’s charity funder. We owe enormous thanks to some fantastic volunteers who helped us to write this funding bid. The grant will cover some of our core costs for the year ahead, enabling us to stick to our pay what you can, sliding scale pricing policy!  Thank you beloved community - you are everything!!

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STOP PRESS! Open Barbers is turning 10!

In March 2021 Open Barbers will be 10 years old! To celebrate, we’re cooking up a bunch of exciting and fun online events for you to enjoy with us, and help ease those lockdown blues! Watch this space! Get involved! We’re combining our birthday celebrations with a fresh new fundraiser - and we’d love your help! Would you like to donate some rewards? Do you have an online shop we can promote in exchange for some proceeds? Can you help us spread the word with your amazing online PR skills? But wait! Didn’t we already have some success with Crowdfunding? Yes we did! Since March last year, our amazing community raised £39,988 (to date) through our online appeals. 100% of this and more (£50,377 in total) has gone directly to support our 11 freelancers (including our cleaner!) to survive the struggle of the past year and we are all extremely grateful! But Open Barbers as a social enterprise is forecasting a scary big loss this year, so we are fundraising for our future! We invite you to shower us with birthday presents if you can, and help us celebrate reaching double figures. This will get us beyond these troubled times and set us up for our next decade ahead! If you would like to get in touch, please email openbarbers@gmail.com with your suggestions! Lots of love, the OB team!

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We have been awarded a COVID-19 rescue grant!!

We are delighted to announce that the wonderful Social Enterprise Support Fund have awarded us a winter COVID-19 survival grant of £31,335 to get us through the next 6 months of virus horror. This will enable us to: - Keep our prices affordable, while still offering longer appointments to prioritise safety. - Maintain an accessible environment for staff and clients to enable social distancing by keeping numbers in the salon low. - Offer home visits for those in London who can’t otherwise get a haircut. - Support our staff in their child care needs to enable them to work. - Make access improvements to the salon entrance. - Continue to work in solidarity and collaboration with our best queer and trans organisations in London. In the event of any further lockdown or restrictions, this grant can be used to help get us through in other ways. Our clients and supporters raised a staggering amount in donations for us, mostly through Go Fund Me, to help us through the impact of the last lockdown, but as we can’t expect such generosity to be eternally repeated, we are very grateful for this new grant to ensure the continued survival of Open Barbers into next year. 

Thank you SESF and all of our clients and supporters for believing in us so much and pulling out all the stops to help us keep going. We will never forget and will always we grateful for your support and kindness.