Dinner & Demonstration, June 14th, Glenside Hotel at 7.00 p.m.
The Drogheda and District Floral Art Group is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a special celebration in the Glenside Hotel which will include a demonstration by renowned Chelsea Flower Show Gold Winner, Christopher White, a former member of the Drogheda Club.
On the night, there will be a bumper Raffle, and it all happens in the Glenside Hotel, Smithstown, Julianstown, at 7 p.m. on June 14th, to celebrate 60 years of ‘Friendship through Flowers’.
At the recent AGM of the Group, a presentation was made to outgoing President, Mary-Bell Ryan, by incoming President, Christopher O’Brien-Lynch to mark her Presidency, which ended in May 2020 during the pandemic.
The Club was founded on mid-Summer’s Day in 1962 in the Gate Club, Drogheda, and was attended by 33 potential Members, with 33 apologies!
An advertisement was placed in the Drogheda Independent by the Club’s first President Senta Woods of Kilsharvan House (whose grand-daughter is currently an active Member), proclaiming that ‘‘Floral arrangement is an art in which many ladies are extremely interested and it has often been pointed out that it would be an excellent idea if such a society were founded in Drogheda”.
The aim of the Club was, and is, to promote and enjoy the art of flower arranging. From the beginning, also, the Club has allied itself very much to the growing of all types of plants in the garden, and many members are also involved in various local gardening clubs to promote blooms and vegetables alike.
The Club has a very strong educational policy, encouraging Members to take part in courses and work-shops and to become proficient in the art of flower arranging. Members are also encouraged to take part in Club and national competitions. Training is available for Members to become Demonstrators, Teachers and Judges. An annual Bursary is available to Members to support this training.
Each year since its inception, the Club has organised a Summer day trip to various garden venues, culminating in a dinner at a local hotel. Every two years, a Gala floral art demonstration is held in November, with all proceeds going to a nominated charity, like Vincent de Paul, Enable Ireland, SOSAD, Lourdes Hospital Oncology Unit, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Hospice Movement, Drogheda Womens’ Refuge, amongst many other causes.
Over the years, Members have taken part in national floral art displays in the ICA College, An Grianan, Termonfeckin, the RDS, Castletown House, Aras an Uachtarain, Christ Church Cathedral for the Millennium (Drogheda Members created the floral ‘Crown’ over the altar), celebration of womens’ education in Maynooth College, an event in the National Gallery, country-wide and local churches and festivals, , the 750th Aniversary of the Franciscan Church in Drogheda, the creation of local landmarks at Townley Hall, as well as appearing on RTE’s ‘Live at Three’ and ‘Nationwide’.
Christopher’s wife, Debbie started a flower arranging course in 1977, at the same time as he started a ‘Know your Car’ course. Debbie has since become a distinguished flower arranger as a Demonstrator, Teacher and Judge. As President of the Club in 1982/83, she hosted a Gala demonstration in the MMM Auditorium, while nursing an infant off-stage! Christopher still doesn’t know his car!
Christopher and Debbie were both invited to run a Club Table Quiz in 1988, and they have been doing so ever since. Christopher gave up more physically demanding activities such as boxing, point-to-point racing and rugby to concentrate on gardening, and, then, on the basis of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’, became a Member of the Club, for which he is now proud to host these Jubilee celebrations as President.
Tickets for the jubilee dinner in the Glenside cost €40 each and can be purchased from Christopher at 085 800 3674.
For more information about the Drogheda and District Floral Art Group see their Facebook Page
