Budding florists from Evesham have won the inaugural student competition at an international floristry event.
Hannah Beckley and Alexandra Bolton were among a team of five students representing WCG’s Moreton Morrell College at the Interflora World Cup in Manchester.
The Level 5 students competed against four other teams in the first-ever Student Team Competition, to create the best sculpture based on this year’s World Cup theme of the Manchester Worker Bee.
Their first-place floral design featured a yellow, purple and cream colour scheme made of an array of bee-friendly flowers including orchids, chrysanthemums and lavender that incorporated a honeycomb pattern into the layering.
The winning team also included Jane Horton from Stoke Lacey, Sarah Williams from Wellingborough and Heather Marshall from Kenilworth.
Their design focused on using sustainable sourced flowers, with the team having only 50 minutes during the competition to complete their design.
The team were commended for both their creativity and use of sustainable materials, with the sculpture’s base being built using an unused piece of chicken wire frame found at Moreton Morrell College.
The leaves, branches and organic material were also sourced from the college grounds.
Jane Horton said: “The World Cup was an incredible experience and to win the student competition was amazing. We worked really hard as a team to prepare for the competition and are delighted to have come away with the win.
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“It was great to be involved in the event. Alongside the competition I was able to help out with the floral decorating and attend workshops and demonstrations from world-class florists which have really enhanced my skills and given further inspiration for my career plans in the industry.”
Moreton Morrell College also saw success from its work supporting UK florist Elizabeth Newcombe, who used the college as her training base and received support from head of department Jane Benefield during her preparation for the World Cup.
Elizabeth, who is the current UK Interflora Florist of the year, competed against 20 florists and came third in the world at the competition.
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