Sapphire Celebration: 65 Years of Sevenoaks Flower Club

Written by on in Events

Tuesday 14th August saw our 65th Anniversary Luncheon. What better way to celebrate the great achievement of reaching our Sapphire Anniversary? We had a wonderful meal in a beautiful setting at the West Heath School, followed by an entertaining talk given by Valerie Best, a Nafas National Speaker.

We shared our day with invited guests including Jan Law, Nafas National Chairman, and Jean Schofield, Kent Area Chairman, and we were delighted they were able to be with us.

It was also special in that we had no fewer than six past Club Chairmen present, with Heather Brown giving The Vote of Thanks.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to take this lovely group shot of everyone together:

Sapphire Luncheon Group Photo - in the sunshine!

Thank you to everyone that came along, it was lovely to see so many familiar faces!

We enjoyed every minute and have had a lot of positive feedback from members who attended. The food was excellent, the staff at West Heath School were very attentive, and it was wonderful to catch up with so many of our members and friends in such a beautiful setting.

Enjoying the wonderful food at West Heath School

Taking “sapphire blue” as the theme, the floral arrangements were designed by Pat Weeden and assisted by Patricia Ellis, who also kindly obtained the plant material from Covent Garden Flower Market. Pat produced outstanding arrangements and garlands which decorated the venue so well, with much of the lovely foliages coming from her own garden.

The pillars and table garlands included trailing deep green soft Ruscus, Conifer and Box, with Crocosmia seed heads, white Anaphalis “Summer Snow” and silvery blue Eryngium.

The Top Table, with beautiful garlands

One of the pillars at West Heath School

The table arrangements, large fireplace and mantlepiece displays contained beautiful blue flowers including Delphinium, Eryngium, Agapanthus, Veronica and Hydrangea. These were highlighted with cream Eustoma, Roses and spray Roses, green Carnations, with delicate flowered Fennel and tall Grasses providing height:

The fireplace made a good backdrop

The elegant mantlepiece

We think you’ll all agree that the results were elegant, stylish and just perfect for the occasion. Thank you Pat.

The event culminated in our chairman Jenny Nye and president Muriel Fuller cutting the impressive celebration cake:

Chairman Jenny Nye and President Muriel Fuller

We can confirm it tasted every bit as good as it looked! Our thanks to Jenny Hill who produced it and to Muriel Fuller for making the delicate floral decorations of wired fresh flowers which decorated it.

This celebration was many months in the planning, so a big well done and thank you to everyone who played a part in what really was a day to remember. Our thanks also to Ken Brown for the special photos he took and to others which will help us to cherish and remember the day. Here’s to another 65 years!

Our next Club event is on Tuesday 11th September, when experienced flower arranger and humorous presenter, Nick Grounds, joins us for a demonstration titled The Materialist. See our Programme and Events page for details. Hope to see you all there.

Where to find Sevenoaks Flower Club

We have recently moved to Otford Village Hall. Which has great facilities, regular public transport and ample parking.

For more information contact Genista Spencer at NAFAS (Kent) on 01227 732008.

So what are you waiting for? Join us at one of our monthly events we'd love to see you!

28A High St, Otford, Sevenoaks TN14 5PQ

See what we are writing about...

We post a variety of blogs to keep our members informed and our new potential members interested.

Latest Blogs

Alice Whitaker is a new member of Sevenoaks Flower Club and helps us to write our blog posts and keep our website and Facebook page updated. She is passionate about horticulture and helping to support the UK cut flower industry by celebrating the beauty and variety it has to offer.