As we approached the Summer equinox the sun was finally shining on our June meeting, which was appropriate, being that June is when we judge the "Summer Rose" competition.
On the theme of roses, we had our guest speaker, Chris Desmond (Chair of Storrington Flower Club), in attendance to provide us with a flower arranging demonstration and a talk about roses.
The rose is an incredibly old flower, Cleopatra allegedly scattered rose petals around her room and references to rose cultivation can be found in the writings of Confucius.
Various cultures and traditions assign symbolic meaning to the rose and how a rose may have a different meaning within arrangements.
With this in mind Chris went on to show us four arrangements with roses of different colours; one with red roses, one with green roses, one with white roses and one with orange roses. We saw how you can really make the roses 'pop' depending on your choice of background foliage.
The final arrangements were very impressive and beautiful. They ranged from impact displays of deep red roses, to symbolise love and passion, to a more calming white rose display, to symbolise purity and new beginnings.
Some very lucky members were able to take the final arrangements home with them as raffle prizes!
The evening ended with refreshments and time to mingle and talk whilst Chris judged the "Summer Rose" competition.
The winner was a beautiful pink rose, with a peony-type bloom, brought in by Zena.
