It had been the first really beautiful Spring day on Tuesday and the hopefulness and joy of the season continued when Louisa Rigden presented ‘Spring Delights’.

Louisa’s love  and knowledge of flowers and particularly of garden foliage  shone through as she presented  five beautiful but very different designs including a foam free arrangement around a large twisted ivy root. We were treated to all the ‘usual’ Spring flowers tulips, daffodils,  irises, hyacinths,  hellebores and ranunculas  with a glimpse  slightly further into the year with stocks, aliums, antirrhinums  and carnations. The focus on Spring colours included pastel tones as well as the expected ‘daffodil’ yellow.   All designs were supplemented with a very wide range of foliage mainly from Louisa’s garden.

Louisa showed us how smaller arrangements can be combined with chosen mechanics to produce greater impact in larger spaces. The five designs produced eight raffle prizes and the winners went home delighted with, as one member said,  ‘very manageable’  beautiful arrangements.  

Louisa’s expertise as a national teacher was evident as she gave us lots of tips including watering wreath rings with ice cubes!

 It was our first demonstration evening of 2023 this week and we were pleased to welcome several visitors to our meeting.  We were sorry Lynda Stamp was unable to come  but  we were delighted to welcome Richard Twiselton to Bedford.

Richard’s demonstration is  inspired by Grayson Perry’s  Art Club   which wants ‘ to encourage everyone to express their creativity through art. Art is good for you, whoever you are.’ One of BFAS’s aims is to ‘promote creativity with flowers’ so we are in good company!

We were treated to an excellent demonstration as Richard  presented  five very different but all very beautiful designs using  a wide variety and mixture of flowers, foliage, containers and mechanics – the pictures below ( which Richard kindly allowed us to share) tell the story better than we can! 

Richard’s  enthusiasm, creativity, expertise and meticulous attention to detail together with a knowledgeable and entertaining commentary resulted in an excellent start to our year.

It was great to see so  many members at our AGM this week when we reviewed a successful but challenging year, the first full year since the return from the pandemic.  We thanked two committee members for their hard work and commitment over many years as they stood down and we are  delighted to welcome two new committee members– we look forward to their ideas and contributions as we take the Society forward.

 After a short break we welcomed Theresa Wedderburn who gave an interesting illustrated talk about the work of  Branch Out MK,   a Community Interest Company which is a  not-for-profit organisation that supports adults with learning differences and autism through Social & Therapeutic Horticulture and Floristry.  

We look forward to welcoming everyone on March 7^th to our first demonstration evening of 2023 when Lynda Stamp will present ‘Nature into Art’

Our December meeting is the start of the Christmas festivities for many of us and this year was no exception. A bottle stall raising money for charity, a plant stall full of seasonal greenery, a festive sales table  and Christmas drinks and nibbles  all before Alison Suffolk presented ‘ Christmas Sparkle’. From an advent ring to   a door spray, Alison  presented  us  with a selection of very varied but equally lovely designs – the stage looked very festive at the end of the evening – we were  also given  hints and tips throughout the  demonstration – thank you Alison for a very enjoyable evening and for allowing us to share photographs of your designs.

Thank you to everyone for their support this year – we hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a happy and healthy 2023 – we look forward to seeing you in February.

Another relaxed,  supportive and  sociable evening this month as members took part  in our  second ‘hands on’  session of the year  –  two very different  tasks which covered two seasons  Autumn and Winter.

We began with Winter – a snow scene inspired from a demonstration by Arnaud Metairi at our Area meeting  last year. They were produced  with trees made from polystyrene and  covered in snow blanket which were then accessorised.  It was lovely that some members, although originally going to be spectators were  inspired to  get involved and others were keen to disseminate and share the ideas and techniques with younger people.

After coffee and cake we ‘moved backwards in season’ and produced a small Autumn arrangement – no restrictions on themes, containers or accessories.   Totally different designs from everyone – there were pumpkins, spiders, berries, teasels, conkers , hips – all beautiful arrangements with very few flowers in evidence.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to make the evening such a success – Sandra for the idea and short demonstration, those who prepared materials, baked cakes and generally helped organise and  to members participating so enthusiastically.

As usual, the skill and expertise of our members was evident – the pictures below do not really do justice to the lovely designs.

I am sure Coral will agree that we had a ‘lovely’ evening at our Open meeting on Tuesday. It was almost like pre pandemic times as we welcomed a bumper number of visitors including several from nearby flower clubs.

With the title Autumn Opulence the first arrangement of Spring flowers in a willow basket was a bit of a surprise but all was explained. The arrangement and colour harmony of sunshine yellow tulips, blue mini irises and brodiaea Queen Fabiola  together with  deep purple anemones was beautiful.

We then moved on to more traditional autumn colours represented by a vast array of different flowers and foliage. All of the arrangements were very different in form and design but equally impressive.

The autumnal colour was also included in some of the accessories and containers.  A rusty cake tin and chain was the basis for a design including fatsia, eucalyptus, foxtail grass and crab apples. Flowers included gladioli, red hypericum, carnations, dahlias and alstromeria.

The stage looked stunning at the end of the evening.

Coral’s gardening knowledge, sense of fun and humour lifted the atmosphere and made it a very memorable evening.

For our first meeting since the Summer break we welcomed Beverley Short to Bedford for the first time.  Beverley comes from Stratford Upon Avon but it  was soon evident that she has travelled far and wide from which she had drawn inspiration  as she presented ‘All the World’s a Garden’ .

We started with an English Garden arrangement  but other designs were inspired by the  heat of Australia, water lilies along the Amazon river and Malaysia.  All evening she kept us entertained with interesting stories about her holidays using her dry sense of humour and provided useful tips especially about British orchids.

Thank you Beverley for a lovely evening and for allowing us to share some pictures of your designs

We were very grateful to Helen Chambers who brought forward her visit to Bedford at very short notice when our scheduled demonstrator was indisposed.

Helen of Evolve Flowers comes from  Spalding in Lincolnshire. The title of her demonstration ‘Celebrate Summer’ was indicative of her passion for  seasonal, British grown flowers. From Achillea and Paeonies  to Vetch and Rumex (did you this was  dock?)  and a whole host of locally grown flowers in between, Helen produced some beautiful and thought provoking arrangements.   It was an entertaining evening enlivened with Helen’s sense of fun and her generous sharing of  knowledge and skills.

The stage looked stunning at the end – a comment from a member as she left  ‘ what a great and very different  evening – not a rose or carnation in sight and no floral foam’ summed up everyone’s enjoymnet – thank you Helen and for allowing us to share the photographs below

We were delighted to welcome Gill McGregor back to Bedford this month. We continued our Jubilee celebrations with Gill’s ‘Platinum Panache’ demonstration.

Each of the designs either used ‘platinum’ containers, accessories/mechanics  or flowers in patriotic or royal colours including carnations, roses, chrysanthemums, agapanthus, aliums and alstromeria together with a variety of foliage including  palms, dracaena, aspidistra, fatsia and phormiums.

Throughout the evening Gill kept us entertained ( I can’t remember when we laughed as much during a demonstration)  and constantly gave us tips –  having unity within a design, the use of flowers for recession, foliage for fillers,  some quick demonstrations of leaf manipulation and the use of cellophane wrapping to stabilise a hand tie!

The  stage looked  regal and stunning  at the end of the evening and there were many happy raffle winners. We are all also checking the colour of pot scourers when we visit the supermarket!

Thank you Gill  – the comments from members as they left  indicated their enjoyment and appreciation of her extensive floral knowledge. The photos below show the patriotic design and a flavour of the other arrangements.

It was a very different meeting this month. Our theme was the Royal Jubilee and we were welcomed by a lovely floral crown  on the reception desk. Then it was ‘hands on’ for members as we all made pave designs using  regal colours including as much red, white and blue as possible.  They were all so different  using  so many different flowers and foliage with some people relying totally  on their garden for their resources   – just an indication of the variation in material  – we saw lily of the valley , bluebells, gerberas, carnations, cerinthe, roses,  grape hyacinths, may blossom. There was just as much variation in the foliage.

All the designs were then put together to make a Royal Pavement which made a beautiful display in the centre of the hall – our photographs do not really do it justice.

Following the practical activity we enjoyed  a  delicious bring and share supper provided by members  and  quizzes ( including  plant identification) as well as more time to be sociable and get to know each other.

 It was lovely, relaxed evening which really highlighted the creativity and talent within our club with  experienced   arrangers  willing to help, encourage and support those less confident and less experienced.   An excellent evening in good company which hopefully achieved our aim  of  ‘fun, friendship and flowers’.

Thank you to everyone who contributed in any way to make the evening such a success.

Just a few pictures to give an indication of the evening are included below.