Outside it was dark, damp and dismal but inside our spirits were lifted by our first Christmas meeting in two years. We were ‘welcomed’ by a much admired snow design by Sandra (from an idea at the Area AGM demonstration), we had the chance to purchase Christmas foliage , browse the  festive  sales table and enjoy mulled wine and mince pies before settling down to Barbara Collins’ ‘All Spruced Up’ demonstration.

Barbara kept us entertained  and also gave us many teaching tips as she produced five  designs   – all inspirational but very different  with at least a little bit of spruce in all of them      

Thank you  particularly to  Barbara  for such an enjoyable evening; thank you  also for allowing us to publish pictures of your designs.  Many thanks to everyone who helped organise the evening.

With best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year – we look forward to seeing you all  at our meetings in 2022.

 This month  we were entertained by Julie Woods as she presented ‘ A Moment in Time’.

Julie is an interpretative flower arranger and her designs evoked memories  which  included  her love of gardening, the Autumn,  holidays and a visit to India . The designs, displayed in four unusual containers used four different methods and materials to secure stems.

The first design looked to Constance Spry for inspiration using only garden foliage and flowers.  Another arrangement reflected a hot beach with  palms, aconitum (for the sea) and banana leaves wrapped around the container. The final design was a reminder of Julie’s visit to India and her entry at the World Show  in the class ‘ Music for the Senses’.

Mark’s first visit to BFAS and Home Counties was a great success.  He is known as The Floral Enthusiast  and he certainly lived up to the title.

Each of his  designs focussed on either a primary or secondary colour and as he worked he explored the meanings and associations of that particular colour.   The first arrangement was an orange theme and the colour meaning….  creativity and enthusiasm, sums up Mark very well. 

His  skill   in using so many different flowers,   colour tones , form and space in each arrangement demonstrated his creative  and artistic abilities.     For example in the ‘yellow’ design he included  lilies, antirrhinums, lemon ice gerbera, moonwalker roses and craspedia together with dracaena Florida beauty against a background of bright yellow mitosanarka twigs

The audience was treated to a masterclass. 

At a flower club you meet old friends and make new ones and this month Emma Remington made a first visit to BFAS, but we hope it won’t be the last. Emma describes her style as ‘ contemporary country floral design’. The light touch and informality were appreciated by her audience.

Trees are important in all our lives and Emma’s arrangements were inspired by her connections with them and memories around them.  

Emma used a vast array of  flowers and foliage  to create five very different  designs including  two foam free arrangements ( it is always interesting to see the new and creative  ideas  for mechanics).    She gave us many tips  and new ideas along the way  –  including a new way of opening up rose flowers,  using spare rose leaves to create depth, cotoneaster to provide movement  and threading carnations onto aluminium wire.

Emma kindly agreed to share photographs with us.

Thank you for a very enjoyable evening, Emma

We were back! It was great to see everyone again and with  a few covid protocols in place we had a happy and relaxed evening when Sophie O’Keeffe presented her  ‘New York, New York’ demonstration.  This enabled members to reminisce about   their own memorable visits to the Big Apple and allowed others to dream about travelling again once the pandemic is finally over. Inspired by a whirlwind visit to New York Sophie gave us lots of facts  as we visited, through her arrangements, the iconic Statue of Liberty  and the tranquillity of Central Park. By contrast the design reflecting the exciting and brightly lit Times Square was  bold and vibrant . No visit to the big city is complete without admiring the amazing skyline and drinking a Cosmopolitan Cocktail. Sophie has kindly said we can share her designs – can you decide which one is which? The variety  of designs both in form and colour gave an impactful display on the stage at the end of the evening.

A lovely selection of  flowers and foliage, all beautifully conditioned,  were used including delphiniums, roses, larkspur, eustoma, calla lilies, anthuriums, antirrhinums, dahlias, aspidistra, fatsia, soft ruscus and euonymus– to name a few.

BFAS’s first meeting and Sophies’s  first demonstration for almost eighteen months  – thank you for a delightful evening Sophie.