Bouquet of thanks for founder of flower club

AFTER starting off with just a few members, Topsham Flower Club has grown to become the largest in Devon and Cornwall.

The club recently celebrated its 25th birthday and to recognise its achievements founder Edith Hurtley has been given the Echo's Bouquet of the Week.

She was nominated by club chairwoman Linda Wilkerson, from Ebford. She said: "Edith is very energetic and very enthusiastic. It is a very friendly club and that's very much because Edith has always been very welcoming and includes everybody.

"She always spots if a person is perhaps on their own and always has a big smile on her face. People just feel comfortable with her."

Edith decided to start the flower club when she moved to Devon from Yorkshire. She had been an active member of a club where she used to live and was disappointed there was not one in Topsham.

To launch the club, she contacted the Echo which ran a story inviting people to join.

Around 40 people turned up for the first meeting at St Matthew's Hall in the town.

The club, which still meets at the same venue on the third Tuesday of the month, now has more than 140 members and is recognised by the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies as being the biggest flower club in all of Devon and Cornwall.

Proud of its success, Edith, the club's president and lifetime member, said: "When I set it up I decided it must be very friendly. I was very concerned that in Topsham there were a lot of widows who had never been to things on their own, so it was important we made them feel welcome.

"That's an Edith thing people will tell you. When people come on their own I insist we meet them at the door, so they have someone to say hello to."

Edith is as well known locally for her work with the flower club as she is with the Topsham Friends of Hospicare.

She said: "I'm just so grateful for what flowers have done for me. They have got me through a lot of traumatic experiences because you can lose yourself in them. It's very therapeutic.

"To be nominated for the Echo's Bouquet of the Week is great. People are always so good and thank me and make a fuss, and I think to myself, I've only started a flower club."

If you know someone who deserves an Echo Bouquet of the Week, just call 01392 442242 or email echofeatures@expressandecho.co. uk