ASHTON HAYES and TARVIN Flower Club- March Meeting Report

My monthly reports for the Flower Club may have to take a different form in future as some demonstrators will not allow us to photograph their work if it is to go on social media. As a report on a flower demonstration is of little use with no pictures these may cease altogether. My apologies for those who enjoy seeing them- I will do my best.

Katherine Jordan, who visited us on Wednesday, was one of those demonstrators. Her Wow Factor was not a wow of bright colours or sparkle but a wow of more modern designs with quite subtle colours. She used the same flowers in all her designs and they were more natural types of flower- anenomes, alstromeria, veronica, narcissus and just a few ranunculas and roses.

Before the demonstration Linda Deakin explained some of the details of entering the R.H.S. Spring show and brought her award for us to see.

She and her design partner from Disley were asked in September 2015 to take part on behalf of Cheshire area. They had 6 meetings together for planning. The size given was 10 feet by 8feet with a height of 7 feet and a budget £350. They were given no title which must be very daunting. They chose to use a phrase," Can Spring be far behind" from Ode to Winter by Shelley. With not knowing each others strengths they had to plan carefully.
They hired a van to carry all their materials to London and after their journey spent 3 hours starting to set up. The rest was done in 12 hours on day 2. During that time they 4 times the usual number of judges circulating as this show was being used as a training for future judges. Whilst working they also had to complete feedback forms for the judges and hand out 250 leaflets of explanation for the public who were visiting the show.
On day 3 at lunchtime they were told they had won a gold medal for innovative design and a further 300 leaflets had to be available. This was to help many people who wanted to learn from their design and perhaps plan work of their own from the ideas. Linda was pleased to be able to help others in this way and delighted with the positive reactions from the public.

She went on to thank the flower club members who have helped and inspired her. She also thanked Tarvin Gardening Society for her chance of arranging flowers at the annual Horticultural Show. We all wish Linda well, her sharing attitude is commendable, especially when some demonstrators are being so secretive, and we all hope for her continued success in the future.

Our next meeting – on 13th April- will be Anne Houghton with the subject "Pot Luck" If you want to ensure that you see the designs come along and join us at 7-30 at the Community Centre.