[and some fun too]
The fifteen of us who gathered on 11th May to hear Sheena and Meredith explain creativity in flower arranging ranged from bemused to downright scared: We were going to have a flower festival, we were going to be invited to do a flower arrangement based on a real person, we didn’t know how.
I should explain at this point that the flower festival is still a year away – 22-25 June 2012 – so we have plenty of time to panic, sorry, think about the new ideas. Of course we know that 2012 has a few other events going on, from the Queen=s Diamond Jubilee to the Olympic Games but this is Hampstead, this is the 200th anniversary of the consecration of the Additional Burial Ground – this is OUR 2012.
So back to that Wednesday in the Choir Vestry. Sheena chose Edith Cavell and talked about her contribution to nursing, her character, her execution. Meredith’s choice was the very new Duchess of Cambridge. Two immensely different people but both, under their guidance, came alive and we began to relax, to discuss, to think, to have ideas of our own. The excited buzz as everyone went out into the church to look at the places flowers might be put made it clear that we were on to a winner.
So what, exactly, were Sheena and Meredith talking about? It began with a storyboard. The events of a life, the way we might symbolise those events. The shapes – did we think tall and statuesque or small and soft; colours – did we see pastel tones or vibrant colouring? Was it a dramatic life, a quiet one, lonely or solitary, gregarious, happy, sad? All these would influence the choice of flowers, the shapes we would eventually create.
There are so many interesting people buried in the Additional Burial Ground that the next step – choosing your personality – may prove to be the most challenging. There’s Barrie’s Lost Boys, Kay Kendall, Gilbert Scott, Walter Besant, Eliza Acton, Penelope Fitzgerald, Anna Wickham – and so on, far too many to list but plenty of scope for the imagination. Buried in Hampstead, the Camden History Society Who’s who of the burials grounds, is a good place to start. But please make sure the person you pick is in the Additional Burial Ground not the Old Churchyard. The clue is in the grave reference – the graves in the ABG start with a single letter A – Q, whereas the ones in the old churchyard start with XA, XB and so on.
The next workshop, on 13th July, will concentrate more on the mechanics because the best, most creative ideas are no good unless you can make the flowers stay where you want them to be. Everyone is most welcome to come along – and if you’re interested in the creative side we do plan another session in the autumn; if you would like to do an arrangement for the flower festival and haven’t done flower arranging before, or would like to help someone research their ideas please come along. There are no rules to flower arranging – only ideas – and the more different ideas the better..
And meanwhile why not note the dates now – 22-25 June 2012.