It was one of the hottest evenings of the year for our September ‘ in house’ meeting but  our thoughts were moving on to the later seasons. As a flower club we have taken up the challenge to be more environmentally focussed so this month members were challenged to make a ‘Sustainable Wreath’. No foam or wire! The club provided the wreath rings and twine;  from there everyone got creative and made some beautiful decorations. Many had autumnal colours ,  some were Halloween themed and we  even had  a Christmas one decorated with tinsel!- but they all looked great. They certainly indicated wreaths are not just for Christmas but can reflect seasonal changes throughout the year. We also had  fun quizzes, plant identification, and home made cakes . A very  enjoyable.  sociable and relaxed  evening when everyone had more time to chat to  other members than we  do on ‘demonstration’ evenings. Thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of the evening and the cake making!

‘Take a Piece of Wood’  was the title of Shirley Henderson’s presentation as we welcomed her to Bedford for the first time.

It was a delightful theme with all arrangements set on or within  wonderfully different pieces of wood which were associated with special memories, nature or its sensory characteristics . The pieces varied  from a chair made from an old tree trunk  to rather large  ‘sticks’ collected by her grandson. The contrasting finishing on the wood   varied from highly  polished to very rustic. She also included   rolled bamboo garden edging –  a fair imitation of wood!

Shirley included a wide variety of flowers and foliage, one arrangement devoted to a supermarket bunch  supplemented with a few stems of garden material. We were also  introduced to a very useful houseplant phelbodium.

It was  a very informative evening as she shared her knowledge about trees. We all know ebony is the darkest wood but did you know holly is the whitest?

Thank you Shirley and Theresa for a very enjoyable and polished evening. The pictures below just give a flavour.

This month we were delighted to welcome Sandie Draper on her first visit to Bedford.  Since Covid there has been an increased awareness and appreciation of the contribution made by nature to mental, health and physical well being. Sandies  designs were all ‘inspired by nature’   both physically and mentally. The inspirations varied  from  passion, reflections, calmness, and joy  with  designs centred around an old piece of ivy, driftwood, the garden and woven grasses.

All the arrangements were beautiful and very different using a wide variety of  flowers  including  many British grown. All of them were enhanced in texture and colour  by  the inclusion of an even wider variety of foliage the majority  from Sandie’s garden .

One stunning design used just three orchid heads against a background of pieces of foamboard decorated with paper napkins, honesty and dried flower heads.

A different, happy  and inspiring evening enjoyed by all.

Our May ‘ In house’/members evening seems to be following a Royal tradition! Last year we made a royal pavement for the Platinum jubilee and this year the theme was ‘Coronation Celebration’ when we created arrangements for a street party table. The  crown, orb and sceptre formed the centrepiece and then we had  designs representing cakes, crowns, tea cups, champagne glasses, cream horns, cupcakes, flans – to name a few.  After the practical session we enjoyed a bring and share supper kindly provided by  members and  we attempted to complete quizzes and other puzzles! We  also had more time than usual to catch  up socially with each other. As one member commented as she left ‘ a lovely relaxed evening – thank you’.

Thanks go to everyone who helped with the organisation of a very successful evening but most of all to all  members for their enthusiasm and creativity.

The ‘collage pictures’ below can only give a ‘flavour’ of the evening.

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.