Forty members and friends visited Ely Cathedral for its flower festival ‘In the Beginning’ . It was a lovely event, beautifully designed ( by Roger Woolnough and Judy Wynn), vibrant in colour and totally absorbing.

You certainly had to be  observant as there were arrangements everywhere: along the floor, up (and down) the pillars, high up on windowsills, in every alcove, on tombs and at the  entrance to and in every chapel as well as wonderful sculptural designs using the open spaces. Arrangements were varied in design, texture , flowers, foliage and difficulty so everyone could take home some inspiration.

A river snaked through the nave portraying The Way of Life with arrangements and scenes on either side depicting The Seven Days of Creation. There were also areas representing the five continents and a celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation.

Particularly striking and memorable to me were the arrangements in the Octagon area, the altar, the font, the pulpit, St Peter’s Boat, the continents, Day Two (Heavens and Water), and Day Four (Seasons and Light in the Sky) as well as many of the small arrangements …. but everyone had their own favourites.

During the day members also enjoyed music in The Lady Chapel, shopping, craft stalls  and of course good food and drink.

A very enjoyable day was had by everyone and many thanks go to Linda Robinson for organising the visit.

A few photographs are below: with apologies for the extra people in many! but it was good to see the Cathedral so busy and the festival so successful.

Vivien Eller’s ‘Day Dreams’ took us on journeys To the Moon, to a Tropical Island and to the end of a rainbow in search of A Pot of Gold. They also took us back in time to the Vibrant Sixties and the Georgian lifestyle of her Great Great Great Grandmother Lucy.

Vivien used a variety of flowers including orchids, roses, alstromeria, eustoma, gloriosa lilies, anthuriums and gerberas. Foliage was very varied including much from her garden. She also kept us entertained with facts and folk lore stories about several of the plants.

A few photographs are below:

It was good to welcome Lesley back to BFAS last Tuesday.  Her demonstration entitled  ‘Around the World’ was  inspired by her own round the world trip and the flowers illustrated different elements of Fiji, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, France and finally home again to England.

Lesley produced an array of different styles of arrangement and used a wide variety of flowers and foliage. There were some very happy raffle winners!  Although not always originating from the country being depicted, the flowers and foliage did convey the desired impression; the Akito roses, white carnations and gypsophila worked very well to reflect the Maori name for New Zealand –Aotearoa -which is often translated as ‘land of the long white cloud’.  Lesley also  used palms, fatsia and aspidistra leaves, asparagus fern, arum italicum, rhamus, dried roots, camellia branches, cotoneaster, gerberas, calla lilies, philadelphus(mock orange),  narcissi, Singapore orchids, hydrangeas, tulips, pink roses and hellebores.

It was National Flower Arranging Day on 3rd May and to recognise the day, two of our committee members did arrangements for local businesses. Photographs below.

On Thursday 11th April eight BFAS members went to Broxbourne Civic Centre for the Area Members’ Day. The event was well attended which meant car parking problems for some, but once inside there were stalls to browse, raffle tickets to buy and coffee and biscuits aplenty. A buffet lunch was ready at twelve with a varied and tasty selection of sandwiches, nibbles, fruit and cakes. There was more than enough for everybody, but a table to eat at would have been very welcome.

At one o’clock the guest demonstrator Mr Barry Grey from Cheshire was introduced. Barry is an international demonstrator and one of Britain’s most celebrated floral designers. The inspiration for this demonstration was a poem he wrote entitled ‘Gently Flow Upon the Senses’

Much of the foliage for the first design came from the garden despite the late Spring and this was enhanced with bright orange roses grown at high altitude in the mountains of Equador.

The second design was mainly in shades of pink to capture the colours of the dawn sky; pink anthuriums and cymbidium orchids with curled aspidistra leaves.

A terracotta stone urn was the container for the third design. Garden foliage was the basis of a traditional arrangement using orange lilies, orange alstroemeria, pink carnations and yellow gerberas.

The fourth design was more modern and Barry used frames covered in gold metallic  wire and flower tubes to which he added vibrant green Anastasia chrysanthemums and ferns. This design was, Barry joked, for those who preferred ‘a bunch’ rather than a foam based flower arrangement.

Three placements of lemons and sunflowers in wooden fruit crates made up the fifth design, ‘Sweet and Sour’.

The sixth design was made up of sweet smelling flowers and foliage and included ‘antique look’ Columbian carnations and eucalyptus.

The final design, ‘Under the Sea’, was an arrangement of driftwood, white gypsophila, white orchids and white carnations. As he put the finishing touches to the design the hall echoed with John Denver singing ‘You Fill Up My Senses ‘(Annie’s Song).

Barry received a standing ovation from the audience and a heartfelt vote of thanks. Later, Barry told our Chairman that he is looking forward to coming to Bedford next year and promised a stage full of flowers!

On April 2nd we departed from our usual format of having a NAFAS demonstrator but instead 3 of our Club members each agreed to lead a mini workshop.  Lynn showed us how to make beautiful fragranced ‘flowers’ from slices of citrus fruits, Sandra did a variety of things using just a simple ‘Supermarket’ bunch of flowers and Ann created modern vertical arrangements again with a ‘supermarket’ bunch.  After a break for complimentary drinks and nibbles everyone was invited to have a go at making something using flowers provided by the club.  It was a lovely evening and a few photos are below….

Carole visited us on a cold March evening to present her demonstration called ‘From a Blank Canvas’.  Over the course of the evening Carole created 5 lovely arrangements using a variety of flowers and containers – some photos from the evening are below.

We had a really good turn out for our Christmas Demonstration from Barbara Collins aptly titled ‘Christmas is Coming’.  Barbara produced a variety of lovely Christmassy arrangements and explained in some detail how the look could be created or adapted at home.  At the end of the evening 8 lucky ladies who had bought raffle tickets were able to take one of Barbara’s beautiful designs home with them.  The rest of us will just have to follow her tips and have a go ourselves…..!  Some photos from the evening are below.

It’s been a busy few weeks with the Area Show, our November meeting and then our Christmas Workshop all following closely on the heels of each other.  It was a new venue for us at the Kempston West Methodist Church Hall on the High Street in Kempston and parking was a little tricky but we all managed and enjoyed watching our course leader Diane Northwood demonstrate her Christmas ideas.  Then it was our turn and the time just flew by.  Sandra organised a huge pizza for us from a local shop which provided us with a pleasant lunch break and then it was back to work to make a second design.  By the end of the afternoon there was a large number of lovely arrangements to be admired.  It was a lovely relaxed day and I think we all enjoyed it.  Thanks to Diane and also Ann g who made it happen.

Way back when we arranged  our November meeting, we booked Amanda Cameron from Corby.  By the time the date came round we got Amanda Punter from Corby.  Same lady – new name!  Amanda had recently married and told us about her wedding flowers as well as passing on helpful hints and tips.  Her theme for the evening was ‘Firework’ and she had put a lot of thought into ensuring the flowers that she used were relevant to the theme.  She quickly produced 6 lovely arrangements which 6 lucky ladies from our audience were able to take home with them.