Creative writing submission from the Rest Less community – submit your entry here.
Having recently learnt to crochet, my lovely cousin, Benita, decided I needed to further broaden my horizons and join her at her Flower Club. It turns out that there are groups of people across the country who meet every month to listen to flower arranging experts and try to recreate their designs for themselves.
Normally, I just buy a bunch of flowers from the supermarket whilst doing the weekly shop and plonk them into my favourite glass vase. But, according to Benita, that’s wrong and I need to learn how to arrange them properly.
So, Benita enlisted my help in organising the Flower Club raffle. Along with the committee, I was introduced to today’s expert, David Wright. David is a well-known and experienced flower demonstrator who travels all over the country showing people how to do it effectively.
After Benita and I had sold nearly £100 worth of raffle tickets (the prizes are the demonstration arrangements put together by David), we all settled down to listen to his entertaining talk. It ranged from how to grow specific flowers outside to how he’d recently fallen in love with a vase.
During the talk, David put together six or seven exotic arrangements using props he’d picked up in car boot and jumble sales.
He explained how, “Luckily my garden is a decent size and so I have at least eight camellias which can often flower for up to eight months of the year. I also have seven fatsia plants which give me so much ferny foliage to use.
“But my absolute favourite is my strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) which also gives me lots of foliage. I just love seeing the berries which the plant produces from October to December.”
David became a florist after suffering an accident which meant a total career change. Following training at Easton College in Norfolk, his first official engagement was to do the flowers for his wedding to his wife, Sharon.
Thirty-two years and two sons later, David is now undertaking professional engagements, including providing the floral arrangements for Lincoln Cathedral, a football reception, and a City of London wedding reception at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall.
And, recently, David has branched out (sorry, excuse the pun!) into wire sculptures. They were gorgeous. You’ve only to take a look at his website to see how lifelike and wonderful they are. In fact, David brought along (amongst others) his hares, and there was almost a fight over who was going to buy them.
The afternoon finished with the raffle I’d spent an hour selling tickets for – and the first number out of the hat was mine! I was delighted! And no, it wasn’t a fix. Just look at David’s gorgeous arrangement which I got to take home with me…
David has promised to come back to our group and do a workshop on how to make the wire sculptures. I’m looking forward to it, but I can’t promise to be any better at it than I am at flower arranging!
Are you feeling creative? We are proud to have a hugely talented community on Rest Less, which is why we’re so excited to open up a section of the site dedicated to showcasing the wonderful and diverse writing of our members. If you have a piece of creative writing that you’d like to share with the Rest Less community – you can do so here.