WINCHESTER Floral Design Society marked up a first as far as flower club meetings go.

They decided they were not going to be beaten by the present Covid-19 restrictions and yet needed to remain well within the law.

After the euphoria of returning to meet in their usual venue in St Cross last month, it was a bitter blow to find that once again they couldn’t. However, they were having none of that!

They did have to remain as law-abiding citizens, but could not bear to go into closure again, especially as they have been meeting for 70 years, and are the oldest flower society in England. So they harnessed the expertise of one of their member’s husband.

John Colley set them up with a Zoom meeting and what a joyful success it turned out to be.

Roz Hall, a long standing member of the club, carried out a demonstration with great flair and gorgeous flowers, which allayed the fears and nerves that their chairman was having. In fact once the meeting commenced, Trish Spiers was as excited as a two year old at their first glimpse of the Christmas lights! The membership too were thrilled to be together even if only virtually. It was just the most exciting experience and took a few minutes to calm everybody down to immerse into Roz’s glorious floral demonstration during which she assembled a graceful, symmetrical triangular design using an array of pink chrysanthemums, spray roses and individual specimen roses. Also an elegant downward crescent design, mounted on a tall metal urn, combining yellow roses with spray carnations and spider chrysanthemums.