On Thursday 9^th May we enjoyed a wonderful display of flowers and foliage arrangements, with some lovely accessories and containers, arranged by Julia Knights. Julia’s stories and description of her “Stepping out of Spring” demonstration was, as always, entertaining and amusing. We particularly enjoyed the simplicity of her spring bunches of foliage and yellow tulips in glass vases, which when clustered together in a wire basket made a fabulous feature for any location.

We look forward to our next meeting and demonstration on Thursday 6^th June is by Anne Bell under the title of “From Me To You”.

Following that we will be visiting and enjoying a local garden for the evening on 11^th July.

The 26^th and 27^th June are the dates for the Royal Norfolk Show this year. We hope you can come along and support this local annual event, at which there will be the wonderful Flower Show and gardens area. Look out for our Club display and the many other floral arrangements within the marque.

We look forward to seeing all our loyal members, as well as visitors at our meetings who will be assured of a warm welcome.

Jane Hamshaw, Treasurer, Costessey Flower Club.

On 4^th April Wendy Goodliff showed us her interpretation of those things which inspire her in six fabulous arrangements, which included a mix of flowers and foliage which filled the stage with colour.

She told us of holidays and adventures she had been on which gave her the inspiration for the arrangements.

As usual the arrangements were raffled and six lucky people took them home.

Looking forward, we have Julia Knights as our next demonstrator on Thursday 9^th May (a week later than our normal meeting date due to the elections) who will be showing us how she is “Stepping out of Spring”. This will be followed by our usual free hot drinks and biscuits, and time to chat to friends.

Our June meeting will revert to the first Thursday on 6^th June when Anne Bell demonstrates her title of “From Me to You”.

Unfortunately we will be postponing our Workshop on 4^th May until later in the year, potentially to follow a Christmas theme in the run up to the Christmas season.

As well as all our loyal members, we are always open to visitors to our meetings, who will be assured of a warm welcome.

Jane Hamshaw, Treasurer, Costessey Flower Club.

At our March meeting we enjoyed Lorraine Scott’s interpretation of “Floral Fusion” during which she produced a variety of arrangements using a range of spring flowers and foliage. She created a simple table arrangement using six sunflowers which she suggested would brighten up any dining or hall table. In an oval container, Lorraine also displayed a selection of spring flowers which really showed us the beauty of the season.

We look forward to our next meeting on Thursday 4^th April when our demonstrator is Wendy Goodliff who’s theme is “Inspired by nature”. We start at our usual time of 7.30pm at Breckland Hall, followed by a tea/coffee and biscuits, and a chit chat with friends.

On Thursday 9^th May Julia Knights will be our demonstrator with her display of “Stepping out of Spring”, and on Thursday 6^th June we have Anne Bell’s version of “From me to you”.

Other events are planned for this year including a workshop on Saturday 4^th May and a visit to a local NHS garden in July.

We thank our existing members for their continued support, and welcome any visitors to drop in and give us a look.

Jane Hamshaw, Treasurer

As usual we held our AGM and Supper evening in February, during which we heard about the plans for this year, including flower demonstrations by local and national demonstrators, an all day workshop in May, and a visit to one of the open gardens in the county in July. We then enjoyed a lovely supper created by the Committee and had some fun with a few quizzes.

March sees the start of our year of flower demonstrations at our usual start time of 7.30pm at Breckland Hall on the first Thursday of the month.

On 7^th March we welcome Lorraine Scott showing us her interpretation of “Floral Fusion” in what we are sure will be an interesting and attractive display of flower arranging, followed by chat with friends over a tea/coffee.

We also look forward to Wendy Goodliff’s demonstration entitled “Inspired by Nature” on 4^th April, and on 9^th May Julia Knights shows us her version of “Stepping out of Spring”.

We look forward to seeing all our members again this year, and if you’re not a member and you’re interested in flowers, learning some tips about arranging them, or just want to enjoy a couple of hours with friends why not come along and join us.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Having had a break over Christmas and New Year we are ready to get back into the swing of our friendly and informative flower arranging demonstrations.

However, we start the year with our AGM and Supper on Thursday 7^th February at our usual meeting time of 7.30pm at Breckland Hall.

As usual the official AGM will be quickly dealt with and the emphasis will then switch to a lovely supper prepared for everyone by the Committee, a chat and a few quizzes to keep us amused.

A quick reminder to members to bring along your own crockery, cutlery and a glass please. Anyone interested in joining us who is not a member please consider yourself very welcome.

Our next meeting will then be Thursday 7^th March at 7.30pm when we will have a NAFAS Demonstrator showing us more skills and knowledge, and creating beautiful flower arrangements to fill the stage.

March will also be when we renew our annual memberships and so if you are not already a member with us, and would like to learn more about arranging flowers or just pick up some tips, then why not come along and try it. It’s a couple of hours once a month with a friendly group, a chat and a cuppa!

Following our very successful Christmas Open Meeting in December, February 5^th was our first meeting back after the new year break.

Judy Barham created a lovely display of brightly coloured arrangements for us with her theme of “A Walk with Me”. Judy talked us through a walk around her own garden and recreated the various areas, including an impressive mini greenhouse into which she integrated one of her flower designs.

Thursday 5^th March will be our AGM, which is followed by a delicious meal created and served by our Committee. As usual we will have a variety of quizzes for members to try their hand at whilst the meal is underway, with prizes available of course! Members just need to remember to bring their own crockery and cutlery please.

April brings the start of our new financial year and time for members to renew their annual subscriptions. At between £2 and £3 per meeting it’s good value for one evening’s entertainment once a month, with a hot drink and biscuit included! Whilst we have a good membership at Costessey we always love to greet new members and visitors, so why not come along and try it out.

We look forward to seeing you soon, in the meantime if you have any questions please contact us.

Would all members please note that, because of kitchen refurbishment works, Breckland hall is unavailable for our August meeting. This will be held in the Jerningham Room, Costessey Centre, Longwater Lane instead – date and time are unchanged.

On Monday 27^th May 2013 several of the committee and members of the club had a really enjoyable and successful day at the Costessey Fayre, on the playing field outside the Costessey Centre on Longwater Lane.

We originally had a stall at the first Fayre which was held two years ago to launch the new Centre, following which we successfully attracted some new members. We decided to hold a similar stall this year to again publicise the club.

Having gained two gazebos “on loan” several of the committee set up the stall with tables, flower arrangements and a sales area, thankfully in the lovely sunshine on Bank Holiday Monday. We had several members come along and display their skills in flower arranging, which created a whole selection of different size and style arrangements.

We then gave passers-by attending the event a chance to win these by choosing three straws from a cup full of them for £1. Some of the straws were cleverly marked as ‘winners’. There were some very happy winners amongst the visitors to the stall!

During the afternoon we spoke to a number of people very interested to learn of our club and the events we hold, and we handed out over 100 leaflets giving people more details. The efforts of everyone on the day has resulted in raising awareness of our club, and hopefully we will gain some new blood as a result, to keep us thriving many years into the future.

Thanks go to the following whose help was much appreciated;

Doris Waymark, Jill Debbage, Tina Carr, Eileen Wyatt and Maureen Hayter

Adele Kent and Jane Hamshaw

Chairman and Treasurer

For more pictures please see our image gallery page

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Newsletter December 2012

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Newsletter April 2012

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