The members of the Winchester Floral Design Society had no dissenters on a verbal poll to changing the name of the society to Winchester Flower Club, as it is more in keeping with other Flower Clubs and can be found more easily on the web.

They had a different format to the afternoon too, by introducing Christie Curzon-Lewis to judge the members' exhibits in the monthly competition. Christine is an area judge, who also happens to be a member of Winchester FDS.   This proved to be extremely popular with everyone.  The competition was a Petite Arrangement, entitled “Summer Fragrance”.

Thérèse Fisher was the winner. She is the first person to be presented with the new trophy of a delightful ceramic boat-shaped urn on a wooden plinth, presented by the Neyroud family in memory of the club’s past president, Penny Neyroud, who, in her later years enjoyed and often won Petite Designs in floral competitions, as they were a more manageable size to handle, she said!    

The demonstrator was Andrea Hillyard, a long-standing qualified florist, which meant her demonstration, entitled “You Are My Sunshine” abounded with interesting floral material arranged in exciting unusual containers, most of which she had constructed.  Her demonstration was based around the many interesting places she had travelled to with her father.

The first one was a whacky “tree” she made with branches and painted in bright colours, with woolen pompoms to represent leaves. She had attached glass tubes, holding a variety of bright, large Gerberas and foliage.

One of the many places her father was invited to was Paris.  She used a black wrought Iron stand to represent the Eifel Tower, filled with concentric circles of blue Iris and cream Eustoma buds, with layers of shiny Fatsia leaves.

They also went to the Middle East. Here she used an exquisite onion, dome-shaped Mosque, crafted in Manchester and transported by Horse & Cart to  London, then taken, as guests of Sheik Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai for shows there.  Her structure was filled with an opulent selection of white and gold flowers and sprayed plant material in bright gold, surrounded by Pampas grass and a variety of roses and trails of purple Clematis.

She then constructed an enormous Hand Tied bouquet,  again with an amazing variety of bright flowers and foliage in record time and placed it in her hand-made replica of the Royal Albert Hall, where her father had performed in a special comic version of the proms.

Throughout her demonstration, she regaled us with stories of her father’s various performances in a host of places around the world,  interspersed with floral advice, making for another entertaining and enjoyable afternoon for the members.