Our July meeting

7 July 2022

"A Taste of Summer" by Beverley Short

On a warm July evening we enjoyed the inaugural visit of Beverley Short who had made the journey from Shakespeare country to entertain us with the appropriately titled “A Touch of Summer”.  It was indeed a balmy evening - a nice respite from another day of barmy British politics dominating the news!
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Much of the earlier chatter was about our own news, many people were still talking about the 45 +1 year anniversary dinner of the previous month which was a great success!  And talking of success, another topic of conversation was the news that our member Linda O’Toole had gained a first and second prize, and runner-up in Best in Show, in the National Virtual show “Chasing Rainbows”; this is an amazing achievement – really well-done Linda!

Beverley regaled us with stories about her recent cruise up the Amazon - fantastic sightings of sloths, dolphins, a tarantula, and of giant waterlilies - not all in the same place! 

Members enjoyed her six presentations, which included memories of Beverley’s time in Australia at the time of the fires in 2019 - twisted willow on a black trellis, combined with palm leaves and burnt forest colours of fire red gerberas, protea and burnt orange roses, evoking the raging fires and sad destruction which was heart-breaking to see at first hand.

Another design was three placements on a trellis using purple liatris and statis, with lime green chrysanthemums to illustrate the Wimbledon colours! 

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​The fifth arrangement of blue delphiniums and yellow roses
​ in a tall blue vase was very striking.



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Beverley commented on the current discussions at national level regarding the use of non-biodegradable floral foam versus other methods of support for flower arranging, none of which are totally satisfactory.  No real replacement for foam is available on the market just yet and foam is not allowed for use in the big national shows.  Quite a problem for the future of flower arranging as we know it today.

As the end of the evening members came back into the real world, wondering how many more government ministers had resigned whilst we were watching the show!   Was this all “Much ado about Nothing”, or “A Comedy of Errors” ?
 
We have a break in August, so our next meeting is on 1 September when Alan Smith will be demonstrating at our Club with the title "Autumn Glory".  Look forward to seeing members and  welcoming visitors then.