Imagine my surprise when, at our flower club meeting in December, I won a trophy for my entry into the members' competition. The title was "Christmas Sparkle". My design is shown in the photo on the right. It wasn't until I arrived home to Village Farm, Church Minshull that I made the connection. The trophy I had just been presented with, was the "Cely Lindop Memorial Vase" and our dear friends and neighbours here in the village are of course, Heather and Roy Lindop. A few conversions later I discovered that Cely Lindop was indeed Roy's grandmother.
Over Christmas Roy brought up the topic of his grandmother's involvement with Wistaston and District Flower Club with his family and was able to enlighten me further. Cely Lindop (or Mrs Lindop as she is clearly refered to in the club's history!) was a very active member indeed. A search through the club's archive material shows that it was formed in 1961 when annual membership cost just £1. Mrs Lindop was on the committee from at least 1966 until 1994 during which time she held offices of Vice-Chairman,Chairman and President. She can be seen on the far right of this photograph taken at one of the club's Cheese and Wine events in 1968 and below, behind the seated lady, at a coffee morning in 1987.
I am grateful to Roy and his family for providing this insight into the early days of the flower club and I asked he thought the family would mind if I put an article together to use on the club's Facebook page and website. "Absolutely" he replied! Apparently his grandmother was a forward thinking, proactive and adventurous lady. Cely and her sister, Joan, were great travellers when travel was not as commonplace as it is today. They visited most of Europe together through the 60s and 70s. If "social media" had been invented during her days she would have been championing it.
In November 2018 I became the latest chairman of the club and I am previlaged to be following in Cely Lindop's footsteps. Wistaston and District Flower Club is a member of NAFAS and meets on the first Wednesday of every month (except January) in The Memorial Hall, Wistaston. We enjoy watching national and area demonstrators create amazing arrangements which are raffled afterwards. In addition to our members competitions we run workshops, social events and visits to places of interest. Everyone is welcome to join our friendly club or come along as a visitor. For more details contact Jean Jones on 07795555492 or email jmj57@hotmail.co.uk
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