The 38th Annual Flower Festival was held at St George’s Church, Brede over the Bank Holiday weekend, August 26, 27 and 28. On the most beautiful sunny day, the festival, this year entitled “Great Journeys” greeted the visitors who had themselves journeyed to Brede, with a display of bright, upright sunflowers at the entrance. “How ever did they get them to stand up like that?” one visitor was heard to murmur to her friend. Nadia Florence-Marshall had added her arrangement, “Around the World in a Hot Air Balloon” to the vibrant porch and this bright and breezy start led into a church decked with flowers and greenery
The displays covered all sorts and lengths of journey, from Kathleen Loughton-Meads “Journey of the Great Plant Explorers”, to Sue Sturmey’s “Journey Along the Thames” and “From Coast to Coast across America” otherwise known as Route 66, by Janet Farmer. The arrangements even encompassed Michael Jordan’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. The festival, as always, was a glorious display of professional and amateur flower arrangers and who could resist a “Journey from Ingredients to Plate” by Deidre Bull and Jo Joyce? Good enough to eat.
As Father Martin Harper wrote in his introduction: “We all go on journeys of one kind or another” saying “our life itself is often a journey through uncharted waters”. This particular theme had resonances for all who came, and hopefully offered a “small oasis of peace and rest” as people moved round the sunlit church.
There were a large number of appreciative visitors on the Sunday morning, with one person taking numerous photos to send to a pen pal as far away as Australia. As well as the floral arrangements, there was a raffle, and Granny’s Attic, which was doing a good trade and tea, coffee and lunch for the weary visitor in the Church Rooms. Thanks are due to the many contributors and sponsors of this splendid yearly event, and particularly to Sue Sturmey, who organised all the flower arrangements.
Photos :Gillian Roder