Floral Demonstration
Speaker: May Marsh, Penrith Flower Club
Fourteen members including a newcomer, plus a guest, were present in Asby Village Hall for the March meeting of Asby WI. Following a brief business meeting President, Susan Renshaw introduced Mrs May Marsh, the guest speaker for the evening. Mrs Marsh is the Chairman of Penrith Flower Club so her topic was really no surprise. She had arrived with a mini flower shop to hand and gave members a total of six quite different flower arrangement ideas.
First, she created a simple table arrangement using tulips in a holder formed from an encapsulated d’oyley. This was ideal for use at a coffee morning. Slightly bigger and quite different, another table arrangement featured gerberas and tulips. This had been preceded by an ‘economy’ arrangement which cost just £3 for the bunch of flowers and £1 for the basket in which they were arranged. A larger arrangement which featured contorted willow as the basis and on which Easter eggs were hung followed. Alluding to the recurring competition theme – flowers arranged in a tea cup – Mrs Marsh had acquired an outsize wicker cup-and-saucer ‘basket’ which she proceeded to fill effectively with a variety of flowers. The final piece de resistance was introduced as a Flemish Painting – the large arrangement was set off with a picture frame creating an effect reminiscent of Flemish works of art.
Susan Renshaw thanked Mrs Marsh for the array of ideas she had presented and members were delighted when they realised that they were being offered all the evening’s creations for the raffle. Guest, Wendy Fairey, was the winner of the regular raffle prize, and ten members received an arrangement or a bunch of flowers. The competition for a piece of favourite junk was won by Susan Walker, second Pat Bevan. Hostess for the evening was Maud Holder who was assisted by Valerie Cooper and June Sowerby.