We were delighted to welcome Sandy Bailey back to Bedford for our Open Evening this year . ‘Verve, energy, liveliness and sparkle ‘ is the Oxford dictionary’s definition of pizzazz and  Sandy certainly   provided us with that with her ‘Floral Pizzazz’ presentation. Her creativity with containers, flower material and staging were inspirational.  The inclusion of music added to the atmosphere of the evening.

The display  at the end of the evening looked stunning with six wonderful but very different designs enhanced by additional and complimentary arrangements that were ‘prepared earlier’.  Sandy has kindly agreed to allow us to share some of the designs – we will let the pictures speak for themselves

Thank you Sandy for a wonderful evening and to everyone else – committee and helpers who contributed to make the evening such a success.

The Society contributed to the Flower Festival at All Saints Church, Queens Park Bedford, over the weekend of October 1^st . They also completed window arrangements  depicting  harvest in Scotland and Wales together with  candlestick arrangements. Many thanks to Sandra, Linda , Lynda  and Jane for their time,  effort and expertise – it was much appreciated by everyone.

We welcomed ‘A Man and his Box of Flowers’ this month  as Doug  Howard  demonstrated and explained his love of flower arranging and how he came to combine this with his ‘day job’ as a barber. We also recognised how he is enjoying his retirement and how his travels and activities are providing inspiration and influence on his designs.

Throughout, it was Doug’s passion for and knowledge of foliage  ( as well as beautiful flowers) that I remember most from the demonstration – I would have been delighted if I had won several of the designs before a single flower was added  (sadly I didn’t!).

A variety of colour and texture was provided within the foliage and he also showed us several techniques of leaf  manipulation. Heuchera, bergenia, fatsia, eunonymous, aspidistra, mahonia, larch, steel grass and several different ferns and palms  are just a few examples of the foliage he used. His arrangements were then enhanced by roses, carnations, gladioli, chrysanthemums, agapanthus, gerberas, lisianthus, calla lillies and dahlias.

There was also variety  in size – from a coffee table  design using just three gerbera to his final arrangement which was a stunning centre piece on the stage.

Doug has kindly agreed that we can share the pictures of his designs.

Now a regular feature of our annual programme, almost two thirds of our membership enjoyed an evening of flowers, friendship and fun.

Flowers and accessories from Sales Table profit  meant everyone could make an arrangement using 5 stems of flowers and midelino sticks. The photos show the variety of designs and the talent we have within the Club.

Friendship: a generous and tasty ‘bring and share’ buffet from the members.

Fun:  a tombola for charity funds and a table quiz to challenge even the most knowledgeable plantsman.

Thank you to the hardworking committee for all the planning and preparation.

We know we have done well when someone says ‘I think we should have two of these a year’!

We were delighted to welcome Clare Allen of Skipp’s Florists this month as she had kindly filled in at short notice when our booked demonstrator was indisposed. Clare  presented ‘Anniversary Jewels’ with all the flowers and containers depicting the wedding anniversary colour

We started  with a grouped arrangement representing Silver wedding using  dried pussy willow, antirrhinums, lisianthus , alstromeria,  stocks, menthol and sweet dolomiti roses.  We moved on to Ruby and Clare talked about having movement through the design. This included palms,  mahonia, beech, cotinus, clove carnations, red germinii and rubena lilies. The arrangement and movement was further enhanced by mechanics of  red wire netting with sequins and voile flower heads.

A beautiful hand blown blue glass dish was the base for the Sapphire arrangement. This included baby blue eucalyptus, brunia foliage and a variety of blue flowers .  Surprisingly,  the  arrangement was enhanced by the final addition of pink phlox and dulcet roses. A useful tip:  hydrangea are so thirsty use an orchid tube!

Next came Golden;  a flat design consisting primarily of lemon and cream flowers   including alstromeria,  stocks and  crème de crème roses. Steel grass was used to ‘cage’ the arrangement. Fifty five years signifies Emerald;   lime green carnations and Bloom Anastasia chrysanthemums  were used together with ferns, baby blue eucalyptus, molucella, dracaena and glittered coral fern.

An eye-catching and glittering container for the finale representing a Diamond wedding. This was a layered arrangement using alstromeria, alchemilla mollis, white campanula, tanacetum,and beautiful Duchess paeonies.

Thank you Clare for sharing your expertise during the evening  whilst producing stunning arrangements.

By the end of the evening everyone was feeling very jealous of what a beautiful garden Daphne must have    – her variety, use, knowledge and love of  mainly home grown plant material was tremendous.

Her demonstration ‘Old Friends and New Faces’  used a variety of containers, all of which had a story attached – some from years ago and others very recent.

We have chosen two of our favourite arrangements . Firstly the horizontal one using pink stripe phormium leaves, ‘antique’roses , bouvardia, bergenia, viburnum tinus and badam pods.  Midollino sticks formed the focus of the next design round which purple carnations and scarlet gerbera were spiralled. This was finished off with choisya sundance, hebe and coca spathes.

The other four arrangements were equally  well planned and executed  with interesting combination of colours  and a wide variety of flowers including irises, agapanthus, caffia lilies, chrysanthemums and tulips.

The stage already looked bright and welcoming with lots of daffodils and Spring flowers when we arrived for our first demonstration of 2016 with Barbara Collins presenting ‘Spring Bouquet’ – a really appropriate title as we met on St David’s Day.
Barbara used both definitions of ‘bouquet’ producing a lovely hand tie as her first arrangement and throughout all the designs used Spring flowers with a beautiful scent. She linked several of the arrangements with Spring events including a basket of flowers for Mother’s Day and a church window design using pussy willow for Easter.
Barbara’s love and knowledge of plant material was apparent throughout and we can name only a few varieties of foliage (much of which was garden material) that was included; griselinia, sennecio, Kew Green skimmia, pittisporum, cornus, bergenia, Xanadu philodendron and willow leaf hebe.
The foliage was complemented by just as many varieties of flowers. Our favourites were Sky Jacket hyacinths, Blueberry roses, multi headed veronica, Flashpoint pink double tulips and freesias.
Barbara’s entertaining presentation was full of humour, information and lots of tips for both novice and experienced flower arrangers all of which made for a well balanced and enjoyable evening for everyone.
By the end of the evening the stage looked stunning – thank you Barbara for a lovely evening.

We were delighted to welcome so many members and friends to a packed hall for our Christmas demonstration.
We were all certainly ‘ In Festive Mood’ by the end of John’s demonstration; the stage looked stunning with a variety of colour (not always traditionally associated with Christmas) , shape, texture and design. John’s knowledge and enthusiasm shone throughout the evening and all of us now have ideas on how ‘to make designs bigger!’
Thank you John for bringing our Emerald Anniversary celebrations to a spectacular conclusion.
A few pictures below remind us of a wonderful evening as we wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful, successful and healthy 2016.

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The hall looked welcoming and attractive as we arrived for our meeting this month. There was an expectant and relaxed atmosphere as over 70 members and friends gathered to celebrate our Emerald Anniversary; 55 years of Bedford Floral Art Society ( originally Bedford Flower Arranging Society). With attractive table arrangements, emerald green accessories and hand painted menu cards for everyone the tables looked very inviting. After a delicious meal, the cake cutting and the toast we enjoyed a flower arranging demonstration by Pat Davies who continued the celebratory and emerald theme with three very attractive and different designs.
The arrangements were raffled together with additional prizes generously donated by local businesses and individuals. As usual, our sales table looked stunning and members bought in anticipation of Christmas.
Many thanks must be given to everyone who contributed to make the evening so successful and enjoyable including the many members who ‘entered into the emerald spirit’ by wearing something green.
We hope the Society will continue to flourish and develop as we look forward to celebrating with ‘diamonds’ in five years.

We were treated to a wonderful evening of contemporary designs from Dulcie this month. Her passion for flowers and plant material was obvious throughout her commentary and we were also given lots of practical advice and tips e.g. how to manipulate calla lillies, making fish tails together with a smaller leaf from one black Thai cordyline, using coloured floral foam as part of a design rather than covering it with foliage.
Dulcie started the evening reading us a passage from How to do the Flowers by Constance Spry – this was written in 1952 but the comments are as relevant and pertinent to contemporary designs today as they were to the arrangements of more than sixty years ago.
The title of the presentation was ‘Simplicity’ and a common theme throughout the evening was the small number of flowers used in each arrangement but always positioned and grouped to give maximum effect.
Each of the six designs were very different but equally striking. We have included three photographs and two of them show only one component of larger arrangements. (we don’t want to spoil the impact and enjoyment for other flower clubs!)
The first picture shows the use of coloured floral foam together with fasciated willow, blue gentian, fatsia leaves and Anastasia chrysanths. Aluminium wire was used to create an enclosed space. Next we have a complete design; a vertical spathe with two placements using Virginia creeper linked by rubus triclor. The only flowers Dulcie used were mango calla lillies to create shape and flow. The colours in the final design were spectacular ( the picture below shows the middle component).
The stage looked stunning at the end of the demonstration and a comment from a member ‘ the Open Evening will have to be good to beat this one’ really sums up the pleasure and inspiration you gave us all Dulcie – thank you.