Fareham crafts teacher with severe illness and autistic son battles adversity to win major industry award

Louise Richardson, owner of Creation Station in Fareham, has won a Great British Franchisee Award – the highest honour in the franchising world. She has received three previous awards for her work, all while juggling the medical needs of her autistic son.

Ms Richardson said: ‘My eldest son has cystic fibrosis and needs medical treatment for 90 minutes a day. Having my own business gave me something else to focus on.

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‘I was able to continue working when I was in hospital with him, even taking resources in with me that I could prepare for sessions. Then he was diagnosed as autistic.

‘This has made more demands on my time as his anxiety levels are huge and it has been a challenge to balance my family life with my work life.’ To make things even more challenging, Ms Richardson was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2020.

She said she had to ‘overhaul’ her business to keep it going. ‘The pandemic actually helped, as I was able to take some time out to evaluate my business,’ she added.

‘When I returned I focused on my most profitable classes. As people’s confidence returned and classes got busier, I employed a member of staff who now runs all my baby and toddler classes.’

Ms Richardson added she worked very hard to grow her business back to where it was before the pandemic and has seen class numbers at their highest all year with party bookings increasing.

The teacher has operated her franchise for eight years and has expanded it from three postcode areas to five. With a business degree under he belt, she has almost doubled her trade and saw her profits triple.

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Sarah Cressall, CEO of the Creation Station network, said: ‘I honestly don’t know how she does it. Louise has had more personal pressure than most of our franchisees.

‘We would struggle without her support in Head Office as she is an exceptional organiser with insight, common sense and compassion.’ The Creation Station runs arts and crafts classes new-borns, toddlers, pre-schoolers and school children in and around Fareham, Wickham, Portchester, Cosham and Whiteley.