Raglan Horticultural Society held its inaugural Spring Flower Show in Raglan over the weekend with organisers saying they are “delighted with the results” and have further plans for next year’s event.
It was the first show of its kind to happen in Raglan for more than 25 years and attracted more than 90 people to view the exhibits and raised $176 for the group.
Floral Art Category Judge Pam Bovill said that judging was difficult, as there were “so many good entries,” but required the judges to follow clear guidelines – such as using only natives in the native floral art entries.
“This is the first one [Flower Show] in a long time, I think that the club is happy with the entries.”
However, children’s judges Sally and Mary, who came from Cambridge and Auckland respectively, said that the judging of the children’s entries was a lot less “critical.”
“It was an absolute joy… really hard to judge [because] some little girl or boy has sat there for ages.”
Raglan Horticultural Society President Barbara O’Doherty said that although there were first, second and third prizes in the children’s categories, all children received a prize thanks to a “beautiful basket of goodies including butterflies and bees for the children” prepared by Julie Hanna.
Barbara said the Raglan Horticultural Society was “unsure of the reaction we would have” coming into such a show.
She said the show – which exhibited individual blooms, native and exotic floral art, vegetables and children’s arrangements – was a great success.
Barbara said that the group carefully considered the date of the Flower Show during the organisation stage so as not to coincide with other events in Raglan, such as polling day on September 20.
“The thing I didn’t know about was the children going to the soccer or rugby…Also, the over sixties had a bus trip somewhere.”
However, next year people would have more chance to prepare for the Spring Flower Show which was likely to happen in “the first or second week of September,” she said.
“People have time now to learn and collect containers for their floral art for next year,” Barbara said.
But for now, the Raglan Horticultural Society was revelling in the success of the first show.
“I think for a start it was a good effort to begin with. It worked!”
Marcia Ahern
