2010

 

7th December

Carola Wilson - From the Christmas Clutter

(at the Conquest Theatre)

Bromyard Floral Club rounded the year off with our annual Christmas Open Meeting at the Conquest Theatre. This year, members, guests and friends were treated to a wonderful evening by Carola Wilson (now Mrs Kean!) with her demonstration “From the Christmas Clutter”. Carola began by putting us straight into the Christmas mood with an all red design, complete with shiny red baubles and some rather quirky robins. The amaryllis, so popular at this time of year, towered above red roses, carnations, gerberas and anthuriums. There followed an urn draped in a winter swag with white lilies and Avalanche roses. A bunch of twigs rose from a vase filled with cones, as orange gerberas and Peach Avalanche roses nestled amongst foliage at the base. The design was completed with twinkling lights fixed in amongst the twigs.

Two tall silver stands were decorated with a mixture of lime green, pinks and purples, again brought to life with more lights woven through the stands. The final design was created on a stand decorated with mirrored stars. Pink lilies, roses and magnificent cymbidium orchids cascaded from the top and the final scene was completed with a second, larger, matching arrangement joining it centre stage.

Our thanks to Carola who entertained us wonderfully with news from her recent wedding to Gordon and a mass of funny stories that kept the audience laughing throughout. It was a really wonderful start the Christmas season.

 

2nd November

Joan Southerton - Festive Time

November’s meeting put us all into the Christmas spirit nice and early as Joan Southerton made a return visit to Bromyard Floral Club with her demonstration “Festive Time”.  Joan took a design from the new issue of the magazine “The Flower Arranger” as the inspiration for her first design and, as many members had collected their copy that evening, they found it a really useful exercise to see the picture in the magazine and then watch it assembled before their eyes!  Kindling wood, painted green, had been used to create a tower. On the top sat an arrangement of winter foliage, holly berries and a mix of red carnations and roses making the centrepiece.

Joan then moved on to a glass container decorated with silver leaves. Into this she placed bleached twigs and onto this frame she added white roses and fatsia leaves sprayed silver to give a very frosty look. Her third design incorporated candles and beautiful lilies and roses to create a warm glow for a coffee table or fireplace. A large silver container held a beautiful show of pink lilies and lisianthus with the silver of the vase being brought into the design with the addition of silver leaves. Joan’s finale was a set of baskets containing stunning red amaryllis and yellow cymbidium orchids. Throughout the evening Joan’s stories kept us entertained and it was lovely to see some new visitors with us. We hope that they enjoyed the evening and will join us again.

The seasonal club competition was “Winter Wonderland” and was won by Yvonne Berry. Janet Davies came second and Ann Stanhope was awarded third place.

Hats & Puds - 28th September

Bromyard Floral Club held a fund-raising evening in aid of St Michael's Hopsice. Sandra Townsend gave her entertaining presentation on hats with examples that got more elaborate as the evening progressed! This was followed with a delicious selection of puddings for everyone to enjoy. The total raised was an amazing £700 so thank you to everyone who supported us. Here are some scenes from the evening.

Malvern Autumn Show

Bromyard girls were out in force again at this year’s Malvern Autumn Show competitions. Lovely designs were produced by Brigette Manton, Bunty Crump, Yvonne Berry, Jill Williams and Barbara Priest. Both Brigette and Barbara were awarded second prize in their classes - Brigette’s design in "Fire & Smoke" is pictured here - and Bunty was Very Highly Commended for her petite. Well done to everyone who entered.

7th September

Jackie Beard - What Next?

At our September meeting we welcomed Jackie Beard from Cinderford with her demonstration “What Next?” Amongst her designs were a three-tiered autumn arrangement of pinks and reds, including hypericum berries and an unusual pink/cream carnation. A flat black dish held a wreath ring of variegated foliage, pale green mini chrysanthemums, green orchid heads and pine cones. Jackie pointed out that the wreath ring could also have ribbons attached and be used as a door hanging, either for harvest or Christmas.

Another low dish supported a framework of woven twigs which were then decorated with an impressive array of sunflowers. A wrought iron bicycle frame reminded Jackie of bicycle rides in the Forest of Dean, near where she lives, and this was decorated with a selection of chrysanthemums and yellow roses. Jackie’s finale moved to thoughts of weddings with two woven baskets entwined with white material. Her flowers included pink lisianthus, white carnations and chrysanthemums and a feature of beautiful stargazer lilies

The seasonal club competition, “Autumn Basket” was won by Ann Stanhope. Yvonne Berry was awarded second place and Janet Davies, third.

Llandaff Cathedral Flower Festival

August 2010

A team from Bromyard scaled new heights - quite literally - at this year's Area Flower Festival at Llandaff Cathedral. Jill Williams, Audrey Yarranton and Joan Holloway worked on scaffolding to create their tall obelisk on the High Altar and what a lovely spectacle it makes. Well done for flying the Bromyard flag and all without the aid of a safety net!

Bromyard success at the National Show 2010

One of Bromyard's members brought home a "Highly Commended" from this year's National Show in Harrogate in the class "A Page from History".

Barbara Priest's exhibit depicted the Suffragettes. From a set of decorative railings, flowers in the Movement's colours of purple and green were entwined with chain and padlock. At the base of the exhibit stood an old sepia photograph of two ladies of the time sporting their "Votes for Women" banner.

6th July

Jane Pugh - Dance the Night Away

After last month’s demonstrator sporting Nepal’s national costume, Bromyard Floral Club were treated to another “first” this month. Jane Pugh’s demonstration was entitled “Dance the Night Away” and not only did we have floral designs depicting various kinds of dance but Jane also entertained us by singing while she arranged her flowers!

Her first design illustrated “Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat” with a stand of twisted ivy holding palms, fatsia leaves and multi-coloured gerberas. Jane accompanied her design with a rendition of “Any Dream Will Do”. Her second design had a 1920s Charleston feel with feathers, soft ruscus and an array of wonderful pink flowers: lisianthus, peonies, carnations and anthuriums.  We then moved to the romantic waltz and a wicker stand held a mass of yellow Anastasia chrysanthemums, a beautiful new apricot coloured lisianthus and sprays of solidago. Jane accompanied this one with “I don’t know why I love you but I do”.

The fourth design took us to the exotic salsa dance with more fatsia leaves, a grouping of antique copper roses, yellow calla lilies and the luscious anthurium “Choco”. Jane put the singing aside for this one and, instead, treated us to a salsa demonstration!

Finally the Scottish Reel was depicted in a green vase with tartan material draped around.Eucalyptus and conifer provided a framework for red “Passion” roses, red carnations and blue Sea Holly, finishing with a beautiful spray of pink lilies. A little bit of Highland Fling by Jane rounded off a most entertaining evening from this all-singing, all-dancing talented and very funny lady!

17th June - Pimms & Puds

Members of Bromyard Floral Club enjoyed a lovely summer's evening of fun and fund-raising at the home of Ann Stanhope. Pimms and puds abounded and a special demonstration by "Rose & Marigold" (aka Brigette Manton and Dot Milward) kept everyone entertained with an Ascot hat and handbag!

Area Day at Hampton Court Castle

Members of Bromyard Floral Club enjoyed a lovely day at this year's Area event. Jane Means was the morning speaker who gave a superb demonstration of packing parcels professionally and we all came away with lots of tips - just hope we can remember them all at Christmas! The afternoon demonstrator was Barbara Collier who provided us with an array of lady-inspired flower designs, including Isadora Duncan, Thoroughly Modern Millie and many more besides.

Bromyard was well represented in the competitions with resounding success!  Jill Williams, Brigette Manton and Barbara Priest all came away happy bunnies with the following awards:

Carved Profusion (Craft Class):

Brigette Manton - Second

Jill Williams - Very Highly Commended

Barbara Priest - Highly Commended

Stargazing & Romance on the Terrace:

Barbara Priest - Second

Exotic Elegance:

Jill Williams - Second

A Glimpse into the Past:

Barbara Priest - Second

So let's hear it for the Bromyard girls!

Malvern Spring Show Success!

Congratulations to all members who entered the floral art competitions at this year's Malvern Spring Show and especially to Jill Williams, Yvonne Berry and Rosie Manton on their awards. Well done girls!

(See Junior Floral Club page for Rosie's lovely hat!)

May 4^th – Coral Anniversary Celebration

Bromyard Floral Club love a party and we certainly celebrated our Coral Anniversary in style. It was a great pleasure to welcome our Area Chairman, Andrew Lloyd, to share our special occasion, together with Margery Bishop, Bromyard’s first demonstrator in 1975, and our guest demonstrator for the evening, Christine Peer.

The evening at The Green, Felton, began with Pimms on arrival. The room looked beautiful and Shirley Simcock and her team provided us with a superb meal, including the world’s best apple pie!  Founder member, Sheila Hince gave us lovely memories of the launch of the Bromyard Floral Club, 35 years ago and Andrew Lloyd encouraged our small but friendly club to continue onwards with enthusiasm and fun.

Christine Peer demonstrated four beautiful arrangements on our anniversary theme and we all learnt a great deal about the different colours and appearances of coral. The first design lay on a moss mat and used the dark colours of the spectrum, with red and purple foliage, including Physocarpus “Diablo” and Photinia “Red Robin”. Some beautiful coral roses were the centre piece.  The second design took a more contemporary twist with a column of tall twigs surrounded by bands of carnations. Fatsia and begenia leaves created a bold base and some lemons added a zing to the final look.  Christine’s third design began with a tall bottle wrapped in willow fencing. From the top a cascade of beautiful cymbidium orchids and white broom fell like a bridal bouquet.  The final design incorporated a mermaid figurine, wonderful coral fans and Aqua roses, truly taking us to where corals lie.

Our President, Bunty Crump, gave the vote of thanks to Christine who had given us a fitting end to a lovely evening, full of what Bromyard Floral Club is all about - fun, friendship and flowers. Here’s to the next 35 years!

13th April

Toni Smith - Inspirations

For our April meeting we welcomedToni Smith from Pershore with her demonstration Inspirations. and her designs illustrated that such inspiration can come from all kinds of places. A favourite pot, thought to be over eighty years old, was transformed from its usual role as an umbrella holder with a horizontal design of larkspur, pink gerberas and white roses.

The nightwatchman's brazier outside the Hippodrome Theatre in Birmingham was represented in a wrought iron container full of orange lilies and gladioli with pieces of twisted burnt wood creating the wafts of smoke. More childhood memories of the back-to-back houses and their window boxes appeared in the form of a metal trough and a colourful array of spring flowers.

A contemporary curvy black vase was given a modern feel with silver twigs and a matching "curve" of Aqua roses. Toni's love of candles was illustrated in her final pedestal of Stargazer lilies and Midori anthuriums surrounding two large white candles. Toni's gentle humour of life on her small holding, her love of floral competition work and the memories which had sparked off her inspirations accompanied her designs.

February 2nd

Brigette Manton: Come Walk with Me

It was lovely to welcome Brigette, one of the club's own demonstrators, to the stage at Falcon Mews. Her demonstration, Come Walk with Me, took us on an idyllic journey around her home village of Clifton upon Teme and it's surrounding area.

We began with the now listed old telephone box in the village. Then it was into the woods for a walk amongst the spring flowers. The pool at Sapey and fishing on the banks of the Teme came next and the famous Shelsey Walsh Hill Climb event was depicted complete with chequered flag! The stained glass of St. Kenelm's church was accompanied by the legend of St Kenelm himself - a story which more than one church claim as their own! All of Brigette's favourite haunts were depicted in beautifully colourful flowers.

The designs were accompanied by Brigette's lovely stories  which brought back childhood memories for some of our local members and her model of Fred the Fisherman sparked off numerous requests for a workshop later in the year!