THEY were getting somewhat continental at a recent meeting of a Denbighshire group.

The May meeting of Denbigh Floral Art Club took place at the Plas Pigot Country Club on a very mild evening.

Lieneke van der Veen was in attendance to give a very instructive demonstration entitled “Spring with a Continental Touch”.

She gave those present a potted history of how she managed to come from Europe and finished up living near Caernarfon, and that she had always been interested in flowers and gardening.

It was her husband managing to get a job at Bangor University that started it all off and she followed him and developed as a florist and demonstrator over the years.

Lieneke is a very talented and crafty person, as she managed to construct all of her containers from various every day articles, and by doing this managed without using floral foam and thus was very aware of not damaging the planet. The lovely freshly picked flowers that were used she had gathered from the hedgerows, or her very large garden with only a few of them being commercially grown abroad.

The designs were very modern and had a light and airy feel to them, which very much made the whole demonstration feel like spring.

READ: Getting seasonal with Denbigh Floral Art Club members

Among her achievements, Lieneke has won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show and numerous awards at Shrewsbury Flower Show.

One can understand how, when you have seen her simple and effective use of very few flowers to achieve such an impressive effect.

The prize winners in the raffle were not only given the flowers, but the containers as well, which was a real bonus.

Lieneke also invited members who were interested to visit her garden in June under the National Garden Scheme where she will also have an art installation.

An unexpected visit from the area chairman of Mercia and North Wales area of NAFAS, Eleanor Davies, was very much appreciated after the two years of lockdowns with Covid that we have experienced and being unable to have meetings.

Denbigh Floral Art Club's next meeting will be held at Theatr Twm o’r Nant on Thursday, June 9 at 7.30pm when the demonstrator will be Debbie Davies from Formby.

Her title will be “Floral Fashion”.

Admission is £10 and tickets are available from members, or on the door.

Everyone will be very welcome for what promises to be a lovely relaxed evening.