Submitted by Neil Whittaker AIFD
The Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marks the 70th anniversary of her time as Queen.
It has been an exciting few months run up to the Jubilee Celebrations of our wonderful Queen, with the main celebratory weekend taking place over the 2nd-5th of June. The streets of London are ladened with Union Jack Flags, and the front of Buckingham Place was transformed into a multistage arena for the many parades and concerts to come over the commemorative weekend.
To celebrate the Queens platinum Jubilee at our store, we started by putting up Union Jack bunting, Jubilee Flags, and creating floral ideas to sell in-store and online. We even created a replica crown and designed a shop window like so many other shops and stores around us did. The nations towns and cities decorated their main high streets. It makes me so proud when our country comes together to celebrate such a special occasion!
Many flower shows in churches and cathedrals up and down the country were held to celebrate the Queens love of flowers, as she tries never to miss a Chelsea Flower show where I was once lucky to meet her as she viewed my winning gold medal hat design. Salisbury Cathedral held a floral spectacular with a full-length robe made of thousands of dried flowers and gold sprayed ruscus, as well as a replica of the queen’s bedroom as a child in delicate lemon shades. Street parties took place all over the country, with streets closed to traffic, and tables set up down the center off the road, and all the children dressed up. A national competition took place to invent a new platinum jubilee desert, the winner of which was the new Jubilee Celebration Trifle. The list of events and celebrations for the Jubilee goes on.
Two weeks before the celebrations started, the wonderful RHS Chelsea Florist Show took place at the end of May. The new Elizabeth II Rose was showcased there, where our wonderful queen came to see it. Then, Chelsea in Bloom was ready to amaze. What amazing installations that were created from stunning Floral Crowns, Red Phone Box, a Grenadier Guards Man, Floral Corgis and many, many, more installations really set the scene in London this Year. You could feel the love and stunning workmanship from many floral designers to create so many masterpieces. What an amazing way to the start the celebrations.
Around the country everybody was getting into the fun with lots of our famous red Post Boxes covered with intricate Knitted pieces of art which adorned them.
70 years of service to the country is really amazing, and a thing to be both celebrated and respected.
About Neil: As a Florist and owner of my own business for over 42 years, four Chelsea Gold Medals, the first RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year, a member of AIFD, and world Competitor, my floral career has been wonderfully exciting.
