A man living in Lincoln, who once sat in a bunker in Kuwait while missiles were being fired over, has launched a ‘Jolly Ginger’ greeting cards business that he hopes will become his full-time career when he leaves the Royal Air Force.
Stu Neilson, 40, joined the RAF over 20 years ago. His time in the Royal Air Force has included three years at RAF Digby and at his current base RAF Waddington, where he has so far been for 18 months.
His 10-year-old daughter Holly came up with the name for his new business — Jolly Ginger Cards — due to her father’s ginger hair and jolly nature.
Jolly Ginger Cards launched towards the end of May 2020 and has a range of around 350 cards.
Stu likes the cards to be funny, a little bit rude, and to make people smile.
Stu will run the business, which was launched in May and has a range of around 350 cards, alongside his wife Shelley, who is a civil servant. The couple have two daughters Holly and seven-year-old Sophie.
The A5 cards are priced at £3.49, which includes free delivery and a handwritten service for a personal touch – see the full range of cards here.
He told The Lincolnite he provides an “alternative to Moonpig” with cards that are “funny, a little bit rude, and designed to make people smile”, with his RAF experiences giving him a sense of determination to pursue his new business.
Stu and Shelley Neilson with their children Holly and Sophie.
Stu Neilson has served in the RAF for over 20 years.
More of Stu and Shelley’s witty cards.
Stu has spent time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and, most recently, in RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
During his time in Cyprus lockdown measures were imposed, including curfews and closure of open green spaces, gyms and shops.
This meant he had more free time, which he utilised productively to put his business idea for the test, creating a website and designed his first few cards before returning to the UK in April.
Stu is currently signed on to the RAF until 2036, but plans to leave at his 22 year point in 2023.
He said “Using humour as a coping mechanism is a huge part of the Armed Forces and was my inspiration for starting an online funny greetings card business.
“I think the sense of camaraderie is the backbone of the Armed Forces and whenever we find ourselves in difficult situations we have a laugh together and it helps get you through, and is something I’ll take away when I leave the RAF and use in my cards.
“When I looked at greetings cards around a year ago I didn’t find them very funny. A lot of my peers are in the military where there is a big sense of humour and I wanted to create my own.
“It is going great so far. The hardest thing is climbing up the Google ladder, but we are doing really well through social media referrals and word of mouth.
“This will be the ultimate dream to be able to work from home and have my own business and get the family life balance. During the COVID period I did some working from home and seeing that, and spending more nice family time, was a massive kick starter for the business.”
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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