At our meeting on Wednesday, May 2 our Chairman, Mrs Sheila Hand, spoke with all those present of a change in name for the Offenham Floral Art Society - in future to be known as the Offenham Flower Club. This was agreed unanimously and will be amended into the Constitution.

Following on with other Club issues, Sheila then introduced our Demonstrator for the evening - Minh N.T.N. Lane - with her demonstration entitled ‘East meets West’.

Minh originates from Vietnam, and her floral interpretations were bold, fascinating and beautiful. We were shown various objects and flower seeds never seen before - including banana seeds - all of which added to the special feel of the evening. Arrangements were set into cocoa pods, a pleated paper rim, a ‘spade’ into which holes had been made and through which stems of green chrysanthemums and ferns were threaded into a watermelon placed on the base of the ‘spade’; also a handmade six-sided cardboard frame surrounding a container into which yellow chrysanthemums, fatsia japonica leaves and bamboo were placed.

Minh’s husband John had accompanied her to our meeting, and played some recorded music towards the end of the evening which reminded Minh (and ourselves) of her homeland. It also reminded us of how different the evening had been - but always with the shared joy of flowers. The vote of thanks was given by Linda Layland.

Minh also judged the competition flowers - when the winner was Teresa Banks, and the flower of the month was won by Sheila Hand.

Our next meeting at Offenham Village Hall will be on Wednesday, June 6 - when our Demonstrator will be Mrs Carol Blighton with her demonstration ‘My Life with Flaurs’.

The Club competition will be ‘Cup Cakes for Tea’, plus the usual ‘flower of the month’.

The evening will start at 7.30pm - although the competition entries need to be in place by 7.15pm. Refreshments will be served. Do please join us if you can.

LESLEY KAY