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.

It had been a long wait, due to the pandemic and several postponements, but we were pleased to  welcome Vicki back to Bedford to complete part 2 of her Treasured Moments demonstration which follows the life of a fictitious family. Vicki presented six very different arrangements,  using biodegradable foam together with  two foam free designs,  representing major  family events and celebrations  including the extended family and Christmas.

Vicki’s   love of her garden especially for foliage was evident as she  described and used a wide variety of flowers, foliage and colour in her designs. Flowers included blue pirouette clematis, paper white narcissi, lisianthus,  spray roses, tulips, gemini, lilac, and alstromeria together with  viburnum, fatsia, manipulated phormium, ivy, aspidistra, calathea ,  seneccio and variegated acuba – there were far too many to mention them all. We were also introduced to muehlenbeckia stems which form a good mechanic for foam free designs.

There were many happy raffle prize winners at the end of the evening. One member, on her first visit  back since the pandemic, summed it up for us all with   ‘what a thoroughly lovely evening and so relaxing’ – thank you Vicki and also for allowing us to share part of one of the arrangements.

The committee were also very grateful to members for their helping throughout the evening.

We were pleased to welcome Linda back to BFAS and she certainly gave us a great beginning to 2022. Her  demonstration title ‘Season’s Greetings’ intrigued us all but we weren’t celebrating  a late or very early Christmas! Her arrangements represented aspects of the Spring season  including Valentines Day,  Easter and dancing around the maypole.

The designs were all varied but all contained  wonderfully fresh, well conditioned flowers  and foliage.   Hyacinths, daffodils, tulips,  irises, roses, hydrangea, cymbidium orchid and lilies together with mahonia, yew, choisya, laurel, phormium and genista are only a few of the varieties she used.

Throughout the evening Linda kept us entertained but also gave us many tips – we are all going to try rolling laurel leaves and make water plugs in  floral foam with apple corers!

Thank you Linda for a lovely demonstration –  the pictures below do not do justice to the complete demonstration but just give a flavour of what we were treated to.  The  many  very positive comments from members  as they left defined  the evening.

It was good to welcome a large number of our members to the AGM – as well as reviewing 2021, it also felt as if it was a positive start to what, hopefully, will be a full programme of BFAS activities in 2022. Since returning in August we had enjoyed some inspirational demonstrations; the highlight being the Open Evening with  Mark Entwistle in October.  We were encouraged by the number of members returning to our meetings but  as a result of the pandemic, and the ever increasing costs in all aspects of our lives, are also  concerned about sustaining and  increasing the membership and also the budgetary decisions we are having to make to take the society forward- we were particularly grateful for the thoughts and ideas members had contributed to an open  discussion.  Everyone was thanked for their hard work and help during the year – committee members, volunteers and members.

After the business part of the evening we welcomed Janet Galsworthy  from The  World Wildlife Trust who delivered  a very interesting talk about the Trust’s work and gave us many ideas on how to encourage wildlife into our gardens.

We look forward to seeing everyone during 2022:  the main programme starts with a demonstration by Linda Seabrook on March 1st.