St Mary's Church Flower Festival 2017
UPDATE - We had a really special week - wonderful displays from the community, huge support from the community, and a lovely way for the church and community to come together. For all the images from the week please look at our gallery.
The Richmond community and particularly St. Mary's Church gave a warm welcome, hospitality and much pleasure and entertainment to the many visitors who came to join us in June for our Flower Festival. Yet again we demonstrated what a resourceful and energetic community we live in, the great talent we have amongst us and the fun we can have when we all work together creating new happy and treasured memories. The aim of the festival was to represent the activities of each particular group exhibiting through the medium of flowers and this was clearly shown in the displays during the week.
The festival kicked off with a preview event on Friday 9 June 2017 18.30 -21.00. The new Richmond Mayor, Stuart Parsons launched the event. Tickets were obtained from The Flower Studio, Finkle Street and Castle Bookshop, Castle Hill. At a cost of £5 per ticket, this included and glass of wine and lite bite on entry.
Everyone had the opportunity to see the floral displays freshly arranged and sit and listen to Richmond memoir writer Caroline Brannigan who captures the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. Over a series of meetings she helps them to tell their life story to her, then writes the memoir and produces a set of books with photos for family and friends. ( www.carolinebrannigan.com).
After this we had the opportunity to watch a floral demonstration by a freelance floristry design service with a little something else mixed in! Based just outside Richmond, NAFAS demonstrator Lucy Hutton-Smith. Inquisitive and loves to see what's new and exciting in the world of flowers and design she follows the trends and has a great passion for re inventing things from odds and ends commonly called up-cycling!. A most inspiring demonstrator who provided us with many ideas. (www.branchingdesign.com).
The events main sponsor was The Flower Studio, Finkle Street. At The Flower Studio they specialise in the best quality flowers available, and buy direct from the Dutch auctions as well as supporting the British flower growers during the season. Jean and Emma have many years of floristry experience; for the last ten years Jean traded as Elise Wedding Flowers, specialising in wedding and event flowers, providing flowers for hundreds of weddings at most of the venues in Yorkshire. They are assisted by Danielle who joined the team as a trainee florist shortly after they opened. The shop in Richmond has just celebrated its first successful year of trading, and are pleased to have met and been supported by so many local people.
For younger visitors (16 and under) there was the opportunity to take part in a Children's Quiz which tested their knowledge of the church and the flower arrangements. The winner of the book token from Castle Hill Books was Isaac Scrafton - well done Isaac!
A festival would not be a success without the provision of tea and cakes and Swale WI provided the refreshments for the Preview Evening and St. Mary's Mothers Union tempted us all with their delicious variety of cakes on the Saturday.
The festival rounded off with a Service of Thanks Giving on Sunday 18 June at 18.30 when we all came together to give thanks for the fun, friendship and beauty of the country side and flowers that surround us in this beautiful part of Yorkshire.
Thank you to everyone who supported this wonderful week.
Katrina Templeton