Gift company expands with Finance Yorkshire investment

A gift company specialising in personalised keepsakes is expanding into new markets following a £300,000 investment from Finance Yorkshire.
By Greg Wright
Published 15th Feb 2023, 14:11 BST

The investment will enable Brough-based The Lovely Gift Group to purchase new machinery, stock and employ additional staff as it considers opportunities in the funeral care and pet memorial sectors.

Owner Helen Davies launched the business after her experience of giving birth to premature twins who spent 10 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Hull Royal Infirmary.

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She said: “It was such a special time in the NICU and I wanted to treasure and remember it. The nurses were giving me mementoes like the twins’ oxygen masks but I didn’t have a keepsake box to put them in.

L-R Ian Brown (Finance Yorkshire), Helen Davies (The Lovely Gift Group), Alex McWhirter (Finance Yorkshire) Picture: Shaun Flannery/shaunflanneryphotography.comL-R Ian Brown (Finance Yorkshire), Helen Davies (The Lovely Gift Group), Alex McWhirter (Finance Yorkshire) Picture: Shaun Flannery/shaunflanneryphotography.com
L-R Ian Brown (Finance Yorkshire), Helen Davies (The Lovely Gift Group), Alex McWhirter (Finance Yorkshire) Picture: Shaun Flannery/shaunflanneryphotography.com

“My experience gave me the germ of an idea for a keepsake business to give people innovative ideas to display or protect special items from people, places or occasions from all through life, that bring them a lot of comfort.”

Following two years market research, she launched The Lovely Keepsake Company online from the family home in 2015 when her twins, Xavi and Anya, were two, and their older brother, Zac, was seven. The business is now part of The Lovely Gift Group which also includes online stores Lovely NICU Gifts and Lovely Memorial Gifts and the two new product brands. Helen’s husband Jason joined the business in 2020 and as the company moved to premises in Newport, Brough in 2021, it saw significant growth. It is targeting £750,000 turnover this year.

Alex McWhirter, Chief Executive at Finance Yorkshire, said: “Helen and her team at The Lovely Gift Group have established a strong range of products for several sectors where demand is growing for keepsakes and memorial items. The innovative ideas and inventive aspects of their growing product range is nothing short of impressive."