WHAT a difference a month makes. Thursday last saw our first meeting in our new home, Bishampton Village Hall. Everyone turned up nice and early to enjoy the evening in this lovely bright modern hall where the Committee welcomed all our members and many visitors, each one being presented with a small posy of daffodils. Tea and coffee was served along with some very tasty morsels of sweet and savoury delicacies. Josie Witts ran a gift stall which proved very popular.

Our demonstrator for the evening was Coral Gardiner who had travelled all the way from Bath to be with us. As she is a Somerset “lass” her demonstration was entitled “Keeping it Level”. She went on to explain it would depict various aspects of the Somerset Levels, starting with her interpretation of the floods which they had endured last Spring, obviously there was lots of blue for the water and yellow sun flowers to depict the crops. The stand was made of willows to draw attention to the willow industry which exists around the Levels. Coral then followed with arrangements depicting the Somerset Cider Industry (in lovely autumn colours), the Bishops Palace in Wells, and her two final arrangements where based on the seashore and Hestercombe House Garden. She had used an abundance of fresh greenery and the most lovely variety of Spring flowers for her demonstration. The whole time she was demonstrating she managed to keep us in fits of laughter with her wonderful sense of humour.

The evening was rounded off with Ann Nicholas giving a vote of thanks and our Chairman giving an invitation to our visitors to come and join us for our next meeting on Wednesday, April 15 when the demonstrator will be Minn Lane from Northfield whose title is “East meets West”.

JILL MILLARD