Merryn Shaw (Chairman) can be contacted for any information by calling 01829 740832 or by using our contact form.
All meetings in the Edna Rose room (except November) at Tarvin Community Centre, Meadow Close, CH3 8LY, 7.30pm, except where stated *. No meetings in Jan, Aug & Dec.
Visitors always welcome; £8.50 which includes refreshments.
Please scroll down the page for details.
NB you can download or view a PDF version of the programme here.
We had a very successful Ruby Anniversary Celebration in September 2022, managing to find some of the original Committee members. Everyone enjoyed an afternoon tea followed by a demonstration from Anne Houghton.
Our AGM in February was well attended and members voted that membership fees of £50 and visitor fees of £8.50 remain the same for the coming year.
Sharon Nolan gave us a great talk afterwards, illustrated with plants and shrubs from her garden and how to use dried materials all year round. She provided 2 all foliage arrangements, for the raffle, with other floral prizes from the committee.
Here are some of the slides she showed us.
March 8th, Diane Lloyd is going to tell us how she started her Flower Farm and still has time for her job at Liverpool John Moores University. Followed by a raffle of floral arrangements and Mother’s Day style refreshments.
April 12th and a demonstration from Louise Jones, chairman of Cheshire area of NAFAS, titled, ‘Elements’ and we hope to hear more about the ‘Florilegium’ at Gloucester Cathedral in May. We will be distributing Coronation door wreaths to all members at the meeting, ready for the celebrations on May 6th.
May 10th, Eleanor Davies will be demonstrating ‘This is My Life’ and I expect it will be a very busy one! Eleanor is Area Chairman of NAFAS for Mercia and North Wales.
** June 16th our visit to a garden, ‘The Firs,’ at Barbridge, Nantwich. A canal side garden, running along the Shropshire Union Canal, with a variety of plants and an observatory at the end of the garden.
On our June visit to Bluebell Cottage Gardens we managed to dodge the rain and Sue Beesley gave us a very interesting tour explaining how she was developing her ideas into reality. A photo taken during the tour can be seen below on the left.
RHS Bridgewater in July, was showing mass planting at it’s best, but there were large cracks in the soil, hopefully remedied when the heavens opened as we left. Most of us easily walked to the lake to the east of the site and there was plenty of seating.
Congratulations to our president, Sharon Nolan who got a first at the Cheshire Show, in the Imposed Class. Sharon's winning arrangement can be seen below on the right.
At our July meeting, Caroline Gregson amazed us with her willow sculptures all made in her back garden. She had made “The Queen” for a primary school in Colne and 9ft tall figures commissioned by Hampton Court Palace for the 500th anniversary of the ‘Field of Cloth of Gold’. She also gave us a great idea for making a vase topper for flower arranging from any flexible foliage or stems.
We are looking forward to our Ruby Anniversary on September 14th and a reminder that past members and visitors are welcome, but they must contact me for a place.
This year we have combined Flower Arranging Day and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to give all members a door wreath in red, white and blue. They can leave it as it is, redo it or just add to it.
A photo of all 40 wreaths and a photo of the basic wreath with an added ‘to’ wreath. All were recycled from the door wreath a year ago, stripped down, painted white and new decorations added.
After having to cancel our October meeting because the speaker had covid and myself a possible contact, we were looking forward to our November demonstration.
Our programme secretary did her usual check with the demonstrator well before the day and was horrified when the demonstrator said she wasn’t doing anything at the moment as her Mother had been ill and must have forgotten to tell us. Panic stations!! All posters had gone up and fliers gone out the day before. The phone lines were red hot and we were very grateful to Donald Morgan, from near Aberystwyth, for agreeing to fit us into his busy week. Then three committee members were laid low with non-covid ailments!
As they say 'It'll be Alright on the Night' and it was, a super turnout of 29 members and 23 visitors. Donald gave us a wonderful Christmassy demonstration with lots of laughter. Everyone went home happy, with flower arrangements, prizes from the tombola and goodies from the Christmas stall.
We look forward to seeing you on February 9th will be the AGM, followed by Sharon Nolan’s talk on WAFA 2020:in Jaipur, with Indian refreshments.
A Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone.
Merryn
Below Donald on the stage with some of his arrangements; Close-up of the ‘Bauble’ arrangement; Those gorgeous roses! Part of the unusual Christmas Tree.
Floral Fashion Show
Members of the club really enjoyed the Floral Fashion Show on October 3rd. Our outfit was modelled by Elizabeth and inspired by the Hippie 60s and Sonny and Cher's "I've Got You Babe." We had great fun reminiscing and working out how to make it from plant material.
The hat was papier mache, covered with beech leaves and decorated with paper flowers. The tunic was hessian trimmed with kapok and decorated with medolino sticks and paper flowers. Colourful jewellery made from conkers, cinnamon sticks and larch cones. Finally the eye catching shoulder bag was crocheted from jute twine and the cotton lining dyed from fruit and vegetables.
Basic Door Wreaths
Every member and few extra people were given a basic door wreath, which could stand alone, or could be added to, or redesigned for National Flower Arranging Day. Using a wire coat hanger, cornus stems, fir cones and bits of ribbon at a total cost of £10! Below you can see several examples of members additions.