Dear Members,
Three months on from my last letter I am sitting at the same kitchen table to write this one. It is Mother’s Day. I have received my cards and early morning phone calls from my absentee daughters. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the garden is like a sea of yellow and all is as it should be. Well! Nearly. The blot on my horizon is the time change. For some reason it always takes me at least a week to get used to this. I don’t have the same problem when the clocks go back. Anyway, we do now have the benefit of some extra daylight. Things are stirring in the garden so we can get on with clearing the Winter debris, getting on top of the weeds, get new planting underway and making a start on the “Spring cleaning”. Sadly, since my last letter, some of our NIGFAS members have passed away and some have suffered bereavements. On behalf of NIGFAS let me extend our heartfelt sympathy to their families and friends. I am sure they will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.
Our NIGFAS Day in March was a great success. Let me again thank everyone involved for all their hard work. A day like that just didn’t happen by accident. I must also thank you all for attending and tell you that our visitors were greatly impressed with the friendliness and hospitality shown to them. By the time you get this Newsletter, the Belfast Spring Show will have passed and we will have a new Designer of the Year. I do hope that some of you will have taken the opportunity to have entered the competitions and seen our talented designers at work. The Lonely Bouquet campaign will be coming up in May. The reward for this is the feel good factor of brightening someone’s day and perhaps encouraging someone to join a flower club. I would encourage as many as possible to take part.
In June, WAFA will be held in Barbados. I send our good wishes with Joan Lockhart as she represents NIGFAS by staging our honorary exhibit. Good luck also to all our other competitors. I wish you well and will look forward to seeing the photographs.
During the past months I have been asked to attend some of your Open Demonstrations. This has been an absolute pleasure for me as I enjoyed meeting with you and seeing the demonstrations. NIGFAS certainly has a wealth of talent. At this point I must congratulate Sandra Abbot and Victoria Robinson who represented NIGFAS more than ably by arranging flowers at Westminster Abbey for World Commonwealth Day. I know that they both enjoyed the experience greatly. Well done. And , Well done to Heather Hume who made a video of a Mother’s Day flower arrangement for Radio Ulster. This can be seen on NIGFAS Facebook. Again, very many congratulations. Heather did a really great job. On a personal level, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in any way since I became Chairman. I am a relative novice within NIGFAS and need a lot of guidance. When I have asked for help it has always been given willingly so I am eternally grateful to those who have the knowledge and wisdom that I am able to access.
Let us now approach Spring and Summer with enthusiasm and hope that our weather will be kind enough to let us all enjoy the great outdoors. I know many of you will be involved with Flower Festivals and Shows. I wish you well in your endeavours and I would hope to visit as many of these as I possibly can. Take lots of photographs of your exploits and then send them in to Sandra, our Newsletter Editor who is always on the look out for articles for the Newsletter.
Have a Happy Summer Yours in flowers and friendship,
Your Chairman Jean Bruce
