Denmead Church Flower Club Celebrates 40th Birthday
Eighty members and guests of Denmead Church Flower Club celebrated the Club’s fortieth birthday with a memorable tea party in the Church hall on Wednesday, 19th September 2018.
Mrs. Edna Goodman, who was instrumental in the formation of the Club forty years ago, said a few words about her memories of the early days of the Flower Club as an offshoot of the All Saints Church Sanctuary Guild in Denmead.
Forty years later, the Flower Club is still flourishing, with 110 loyal members and a dedicated, hard-working committee. Monthly demonstrations by professional flower arrangers provide the basis for the Club’s activities, with an annual outing to a garden of note in June. The AGM in January is preceded by a lunch cooked by the committee (always a favourite event with a good turnout!). Other events over the years have included annual plant sales and social occasions, like tea in committee member’s gardens, which have raised an amazing £48,000 for charity.
After some light-hearted entertainment, members enjoyed a tea prepared and served by the committee. Birthday cakes in the shape of the number 40 were cut by Edna and another founding member, Mrs. Lesley Hallett.
Lesley took over as Chairman of the Sanctuary Guild and President of the Flower Club in 1993 and has since been instrumental in organising all the flower rotas and floral decoration of the Church for Sundays, weddings, funerals and all the Church’s special Flower festivals. She was presented with a bouquet of flowers as a mark of the Flower Club’s gratitude for her long, hard-working and loyal service.
Two other members of the committee who have worked hard but quietly in the background for many years as officers were also honoured - Mrs. Vivien Chiswell, Secretary for nearly 25 years and Mrs. Joan Woodland, Programme Secretary for 18 years. The Chairman, Mrs. Carolyn Keyzor, praised and thanked the rest of the committee for their continuing hard work and dedication, which keeps the Club running so successfully.