Clophill & District Flower Club welcomed Rekha Naidoo as the demonstrator at its July meeting.  Rekha’s title was ‘Festivals of India’ and each of her designs and entertaining talk related back to family, religion,  culture and the traditions of India.

​​The first design – Raksha Bundhan– was a traditional triangular shape using red and yellow carnations and depicted the strong relationship between brothers and sisters.  The foliage element consisted of palm leaves, phormium and green hypericum.  




​The design sat on a stand which Rekha had made herself using 2 hanging baskets wired together and covered with willow weaved through and decorated with red and yellow colours which are auspicious and tie in with the flowers.

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​The second design was set on a tall, intricately decorated silver pot.  It consisted of gold ting ting, liatris, proteas, celosia, green anthuriums, hosta leaves and laurel.  The design celebrated Navrati – 9 days of celebrations for good over evil where a different colour is worn each day for Garba Dancing using Dandyia sticks.

​Diwali is celebrated each November.  This was represented by a non floral foam design consisting of tin cans covered in colourful saree borders with aluminium wire scrunched inside to balance the flowers and a few stones to add weight.  Roses and carnations were the floral element of this design.  The tins were placed in front of tall candlesticks to represent this Festival of Light.

Vaisaki is a Sikh celebration of harvest festival, and depicts faith in Guru Nanak. The container for this design was styled as a colourful turban with the floral element being orange proteas and green roses plus Raphis palm leaves complimented with a green medelino bow.
 
The 5th design also celebrated Sikhism.  This was a parallel design which consisted of white agapanthus, leucodendron, variegated aspidistra leaves, sisal and representation of the 10 gurus (mentors) in various vibrant colours.
 
Rekha’s final design was placed on a tall column which she had constructed from insulation board and covered with gorgeous, colourful sari borders.  The flowers she placed on top were bright yellow trailing calla lilies over soft ruscus with the central bowl being filled with orange leucospurnum, red and pink roses, yellow and mauve carnations and mauve chrysanthemums.  This design celebrated the colourful festival of Holi, where powder of all colours is thrown at each other.
 
Each of the designs included embellishments in the form of decorated sticks or beads relating to Indian tradition and culture.

Clophill & District Flower Club meet on the first Thursday of the month (except August).  New members and visitors are always welcome to join us.  For further details see our programme and contact us if you need any additional information.

I have just got back from a very relaxing holiday in Scotland. We stayed in Blairgowrie for a week and visited Balmoral Castle where it was interesting to see the influence King Charles has had already on renovating the gardens. It was a very peaceful place and of course with many recent memories. We, also, went to Scone Palace where the gardens were extensive and there were lots of Royal connections, including the Stone of Scone. We travelled over to the west coast for the weekend and visited Dumfries House on the way. Unfortunately this was the only time the weather affected our holiday as it poured with rain and this curtailed our visit.

The first thing I did when I got home was to walk around my garden to see all the things that have grown whilst we were away – including the weeds. Everything has come on well and I am so pleased I have great neighbours who have looked after it for the past two weeks.

I hope you enjoyed our Club meeting in June with David Wright. He had lovely garden plant material and his wire sculptures gave the demonstration another dimension, although he didn’t use them as accessories!
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On Thursday 6th July we have Rekha Naidoo and her title is ‘Festivals of India’. I am sure it will be a lovely evening as she always puts a lot of preparation into her demonstrations.

The theme for the Charity table at the July meeting is books.  The Charity table is proving very successful and the Committee are so pleased that you are all contributing and taking an interest in it. Last month we made £60 from the plants and then we restocked for the Plant Stall at the Village Fete on 17th June and we raised another £68. I am very grateful to Jan Bird and Val Colliss for running the stall all afternoon on a warm day.

Barton Village Show Sunday 23rd July. There is a Floral Art Section with 3 classes. All details are on the schedule that can be collected from the Club on Thursday or from Barton-le-Clay Parish Council. Please take the opportunity to enter a show and use your flower arranging skills.

Shefford Craft and Produce Show 9th September. Schedules will be available at our Club meeting on Thursday with details of the Floral Art Classes. This will be another opportunity to enter a competition – just for fun,  an experience.

A Special Area Day on 3rd October, to be held in Wheathampstead. The day will be full of activities relating to floral art where all members have to chance to learn more about the Principles and Elements of Design from several experienced tutors who will teach you how they relate to our arrangements, demonstrating and competitions.
Please think about coming as I am sure you will enjoy the day.  Details will be available at our meetings or contact me.

I hope to see you on Thursday but if not a reminder that we don’t meet in August and our next meeting will be on 7th September. 

With my best wishes,
Carolyn