I'm also in a very mixed age class but have the opposite experience. The younger girls are either already in a shop or, knowing they don't want to go the A level/uni route, are using the course to figure out whether floristry is their talent in which case they'll go into a shop full time or onto the advanced course and then into a shop full time on slightly better wages.

The ones that want to set up on their own as soon as possible are the more, er, mature ladies that either don't want a boss anymore or feel that they have enough life/business experience to profitably run their own shop and have chosen floristry to do it in because the course gives a damn good basic training in the field. Watch out, Jane Packer, these women are after your ass!

Me? Of course I'd love to run my own business. I'd also love to work three hours a week and earn a million quid a year but none of 'em are gonna happen anytime soon so meantime I'll just carry on with the best of both worlds - learning the techniques in college and the reality from work experience and reading here.