Latest news with #TuckshopFlowers
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'We were first to take funeral flowers to Chelsea'
An East Yorkshire florist has helped create the first display of funeral flowers at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Gill Hodgson MBE won a gold medal for the display she made with non-profit group Farewell Flowers Directory. Ms Hodgson said Queen Camilla, who stopped to speak with the team, "really showed an interest and was full of congratulations". "We are the first people ever to take funeral flowers to Chelsea Flower Show so that alone is different", added Ms Hodgson. The display, which is about 10ft (3m) high, includes foxgloves, peonies, buttercups and white lilacs flowing out of a willow coffin, with a graveyard underneath and a man sitting on a bench with a dog at his feet. The winning design team includes Ms Hodgson, of Fieldhouse Flowers, Carole Patilla of Tuckshop Flowers in Birmingham, Georgie Newbery of Common Farm Flowers in Somerset and Nicola Hill of Gentle Blooms in Warwickshire. Ms Hodgson, who lives near Pocklington, said there was "a lot of hugging" and "a couple of tears" when the women saw the certificate at the display on Tuesday morning. "People are drawn to the height and beautiful flowers without realising until they get closer that it's actually a display of funeral flowers," she said. "Suddenly, they realise how beautiful they are without thinking it has to be mournful or macabre." The group aims to remove plastic floral foam and single-use plastic from funeral floristry. Carole Patilla, also a co-founder of The Farewell Flowers Directory, said: "We're so delighted that we did the thing people told us we couldn't do: we took funeral flowers and a coffin to RHS Chelsea and won gold. "Our display shows that flowers, thoughtfully and sustainably designed, can move people; they can reflect and celebrate a life; and they can tread lightly on the planet." The installation was sponsored by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), Green Funeral Flowers Online Course by Tuckshop Flowers, New Covent Garden Flower Market and Workplace Bereavement. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Chelsea funeral flowers win gold medal Royals and Beckham attend Chelsea Flower Show Chelsea Flower Show garden to be installed in Hull Chelsea Flower Show
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Birmingham florist celebrates Chelsea funeral flowers gold medal
A schoolteacher-turned-horticulturist says she is "overjoyed but exhausted" after winning a gold medal for her debut at the RHS Chelsea Flower Patilla, from Bournville, Birmingham, was part of a team that created Chelsea's first-ever display of funeral even had a royal visit when Queen Camilla stopped to admire the display."She was commenting on the different varieties of flowers in there, and saying that it all looked beautiful," said Ms Patilla. The award-winning display depicts a churchyard with paper mache headstones, a man sitting on a bench with a dog at his feet, and flowers - such as foxgloves, peonies and irises - bursting out of a coffin."We're just really delighted by the way people are responding to the stand," said Ms Patilla. "That's almost as exciting as the medal itself." Ms Patilla, who runs Tuckshop Flowers in south Birmingham, is a co-founder of the Farewell Flowers Directory (FFD), a non-profit organisation made up of independent florists specialising in individually-tailored funeral also avoid the use of plastic and floral foam."Plastics have become such an issue, environmentally," said Meg Edmonds, an FFD member and florist at Roots Family Farm Shop in Rushwick, Worcestershire, who helped present the display at Chelsea."For churchyards and crematoriums to dispose of this sort of material - it's a phenomenal job for them, and it's not necessary."We're here, really, to open up that conversation, and let people know that it doesn't have to be like that." The team also hopes the success of the display will encourage people to be less hesitant to discuss their own funeral with loved ones."It just makes people think: 'Well, what do I want at my funeral?'" said Ms Patilla. "And it might encourage them to go away and talk to somebody close to them about it."As for the gold medal, laughed Ms Patilla, "We're never people to aim low.""When we decided we were going to get funeral flowers in the public gaze, we decided it was Chelsea or bust."But you can never be sure until you see that medal on your stand, and so we were thrilled to see that it was the colour that we wanted."After Chelsea, the display will be moved to Yorkshire, where it will be rearranged with fresh flowers. Chelsea Flower Show runs until Saturday. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Why I'm taking funeral flowers to Chelsea'
A former teacher is making history at this year's Chelsea Flower Show - with the event's first-ever funeral flower display. Carole Patilla, from Bournville, Birmingham, gave up her classroom career to become a florist and specialises in alternative, less traditional funeral arrangements. She said she hoped people at Chelsea would be "wowed" by the beauty of the display, rather than distracted by the fact it has been designed with funerals in mind. "I think people are squeamish about anything that's connected with death and dying, and we're not trying to shock anybody," Ms Patilla explained. "We're trying to kind of welcome them in and make the whole topic less threatening." Ms Patilla hopes the display will encourage people to talk to their loved ones about the kind of funeral they would like - which she says they are often, understandably, reticent to discuss. Last year, she helped set up the Farewell Flowers Directory, a non-profit organisation that connects customers with local florists who specialise in creating individually-tailored funeral arrangements. There is also a focus on sustainability, by avoiding the use of wire, plastic and floral foam that is often used in traditional arrangements. "It's a huge waste disposal problem for cemeteries and crematoriums," said Ms Patilla. "And they've been really supportive. They've sponsored the display, actually, because they're super keen to reduce the amount of waste connected with funerals in general." The display at Chelsea, which Ms Patilla has created with florists from Leamington Spa, Devon and Yorkshire, will depict a churchyard scene with flowers growing around gravestones and bursting out of a coffin. But she promises it will not be "macabre". "It's going to be a really joyous celebration of seasonal British grown flowers," she said. "We're using it like a giant window box, really." Most of the flowers Ms Patilla uses in her day-to-day floristry at Tuckshop Flowers in south Birmingham are grown in her garden or on her allotment. "I just love the feel that it creates," she said. "It's not uniform, it's very relaxed, it's very natural. "It's really easy to create wildflower-style tributes using garden ingredients." But Ms Patilla says her work should not be conflated with the eco-funeral movement. "We welcome that, we embrace it, and we want to encourage it, but we don't want to be pigeonholed," she said. "We want to encourage the idea of funeral flowers without foam to spread, and we want it to become the mainstream. "And that's why we're taking them to Chelsea." Chelsea Flower Show runs from 20 to 24 May. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Monty's dog helps design Chelsea Flower Show garden Chelsea Pensioners celebrated in flower show entry Commonwealth Games display wins Flower Show gold Chelsea Flower Show Farewell Flowers Directory
