Everyone can arrange flowers, with encouragement and guidance; and all we do is offered as a gift to God.
It began for me about 55 years ago, when my Girl Guides captain suggested some of us might like to try activities for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, one of which was flower-arranging. I remember arranging five crimson dahlias, using a pin-holder and a few leaves.
The Church of England Flower Arrangers’ Association (CEFAA) was founded in 1981 at St Ann’s, Rainhill, in Liverpool, by George and Doreen Slade, with five members sharing good practice and enjoying fellowship. CEFAA now has around 200 members in the dioceses of Birmingham, St Albans, London, Derby, Worcester, Liverpool, and York, and the Bolton area.
I started a weekly Zoom in lockdown; three years later, we connect with each other most Thursdays, and sometimes visit each other and see new churches and cathedrals.
Perhaps there used to be a feeling that rules had to be followed, and that nothing else was acceptable, which led to the formidable reputation of flower ladies. I suspect that many flower groups were closed shops, and didn’t want or welcome newcomers.
CEFAA welcomes new members. I’m saddened we don’t have more men. I sometimes worked with an anaesthetist from New Zealand, who arranged flamboyant flowers as a break from his work. We once created an amazing harvest display on a shoestring, with donated foliage, fruit, and by recycling things.
Most of us have no formal training in floristry, but we fund occasional demonstrations and workshops. We’re very supportive of each other, and readily help each other. A lot of it’s about confidence, and, for big occasions, we work as a team. I’m always intrigued by the mechanics used in very ambitious creations.
I particularly enjoy creating arrangements for services at St Paul’s Cathedral. I also enjoy talking with visitors when they approach us. Often, they’ll have travelled many miles to visit St Paul’s.
I also enjoy being part of a team taking part in flower festivals. Last year, we celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth, with flowers and memorabilia depicting the decades of her reign. My contribution to the current decade was a coronavirus, made from a sphere covered in tiny scallion chrysanthemums interspersed with statice. It was extremely fiddly and time-consuming to make, but it did last for the whole two weeks of the display.
A team of us were asked to create two arrangements for the service of thanksgiving for the NHS at St Paul’s Cathedral, in 2021. Though the colour was to be predominantly blue, we suggested mainly white with just blue accents, because the service was to be televised, and the arrangements wouldn’t have been seen by anyone not sitting in the first few rows.
Yes, I do regard flowers as an art form. Think of the tremendous range of colours, shapes, sizes, and textures of flowers, and their individual petals. The important consideration is that the container and arrangement suits the space for which it is intended. I don’t like splodgy creations where too many flowers are packed together so no one can see and appreciate them. A wise maxim I was offered is: “Leave room for the bees!”
The cost of flowers is always difficult on limited budgets. We’ve agreed a budget of £350 with the Precentor at St Paul’s for the six arrangements for Maundy Thursday — a florist would charge about £1000. They’ll be squirrelled away till Saturday afternoon. We have good relationships with local wholesalers, and use foliage from St Paul’s Churchyard. Generally, we try to reduce costs as much as we can, using flowers from gardens when possible, and experimenting with silk flowers among fresh foliage. For many of us, this is part of our offering to the Church.
We’re also experimenting with alternatives to floral foam and imported flowers, but it’s a balance. We don’t want to deprive people of valuable trade, and home-grown flowers need to be replaced far more often. Some members had disasters using alternatives to floral foam last Easter. So it’s a work in progress.
Flowers enhance the worship of the Church. Those words are used in the Association’s prayer at the opening of our meetings. They provide a focus for reflection or for prayer during services, and welcome visitors, particularly if they come seeking solace.
I spent my first 18 years in Sutton Coldfield, before coming to London to train as a teacher. My brother and I had very happy childhoods, enjoying an annual holiday to the seaside. For almost 30 years, apart from when I had my two children, I taught in primary schools. The last 13 years were as deputy head teacher and SENCO.
Life was always busy. Some days, a teacher had been delayed for some reason, and I’d be asked to take her class. I enjoyed the challenge of the unexpected. On one occasion, when I was acting head teacher, a child came to tell me that there was a runaway horse on the school field.
I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of the primary-school curriculum. I fear today it’s too focused on testing, and doesn’t allow enough time for art, music, and creative subjects. If I’m honest, I didn’t enjoy the vast amount of paperwork we had to complete. Some of it was necessary, but not as much as we had to do.
I loved my job until the last afternoon, but I haven’t missed it at all. As one door closed, so many others opened. I regularly take children on tours of our church in Barnet, and go into schools to take sessions for the RE curriculum. I vowed I’d never write another essay when I left teaching, but now I contribute to the parish magazine, and to CEFAA’s magazine, Faith and Flowers.
There’s nothing I enjoy more than a few hours down on my allotment. I used to walk down every afternoon during the first lockdown. I won’t ever forget the absence of traffic and the silence. Nothing beats the taste of home-grown produce, freshly picked and half an hour later on your plate. All five grandchildren have enjoyed digging up potatoes at harvest time — and how better to see how they grow?
I’ve also recently taken up bell-ringing. I’ve answered the call to “Ring for the King”. Whether I’ll be competent enough to ring on 6 May remains to be seen.
As a family, we were always involved with our local church. I attended Brownies and Guides and church parades, and was confirmed, but it wasn’t until I went to college that my faith really deepened. Now, I’m very involved in my church, serving on the DCC [district church council], serving at eucharists, on the refreshment rota, and as a church watcher for visitors. I can’t imagine life without my faith.
The one thing that does make me angry is the treatment of women and girls in countries where they’re treated as second-class citizens and denied education and equal opportunities.
I enjoy helping others, sharing a meal with friends, and spending time with my family. I’m happy when we laugh together, and when I’ve made someone smile.
I’ve always lived too far away to go to the seaside for a day trip; so I’m still excited at the thought of being by the sea and hearing the sea on the beach or the rocks.
Listening to the news sometimes makes me fear greatly for the future and for my grandchildren and the next generations, but then I hear about someone doing something very positive to improve the climate-change situation. That gives me hope.
In the last few years, I’ve found it easier to be more outgoing in my faith, and will ask someone if they’d like me to pray for them, particularly if they are unwell or anxious. Sometimes, we pray together. I know the strength I gained from knowing others were praying for us when my father was dying. Often, I’ll pray for peace for individual people. Sometimes it’s for peace in troubled parts of the world. Being outside with nature is a wonderful time for reflection, and to be thankful for all the blessings God’s given me.
A few weeks ago, I visited the Fashion and Textile Museum, in Bermondsey, to see an exhibition by the artist, textile and knitwear designer, Kaffe Fassett. I was absolutely enthralled by his use of colour and texture. I don’t know if Kaffe has ever arranged flowers, but I suspect he must at least like them, as he uses flowers in his designs. Anyhow, if I were locked in a church with someone, I think it would be rather fun to spend an hour or two arranging flowers with him. I imagine he’d be rather flamboyant in his choice of flowers. If he wasn’t, I might suggest we create an arrangement using agapanthus, and also stems of strelitzia, the beautifully coloured Birds of Paradise flowers, both tall and elegant, which I am not. What fun we’d have!
Averill Lovatt was talking to Terence Handley MacMath.
cefaa.co.uk