All about the flower arrangers at Fulwood

We are a happy band of people who delight in the beauty of flowers and foliage. I personally feel, whilst I am arranging the flowers, a quietness and a oneness with God and nature. Bouquet of flowers

Our group is made up of six ladies and one man: Barry Crossley, Muriel Crossley, Dorothy Highley, Chris Hoban, Janet Lowe, Morag McManus, Trudy Smith and Delma Whitman. We would welcome anyone with a delight in flower arranging to join us, just have a word with any of these people.

We owe a great debt to predecessors Vera Grimshaw and Valerie Waterhouse. Muriel Crossley now co-ordinates the group and Thelma Williams holds the purse strings.

If you do not know how to go about contributing to the flowers in church, this is what happens: Muriel keeps a diary and people contact her if they want a specific date for their own reasons, such as a special wedding anniversary or remembering a loved one's birthday. Other people are willing to fill in the gaps in the programme as and when they occur. Muriel will then ask what sort of flowers are preferred, subject of course to availability and the colours most favoured. Then she contacts the person on the rota listed for that particular date and they do the arrangement to suit.

At the end of the evening service on a Sunday night, the flowers are stripped and made into bunches and then distributed to the sick and people in difficulties within the church. We hope these flowers give much pleasure for a week or two after they are received.

We have been involved with quite a number of weddings over the last couple of years when two people have worked alongside each other. You may have noticed then that there are two pedestals instead of one.

At Easter we ask for contributions from the congregation to help fill the church with spring flowers and this year contributions did not cover the cost of the flowers.

We would welcome new people to contribute. The church is always changing, people move from the district or die, and we are finding more gaps in the calendar than we would like. Therefore, we need to make everyone aware of the system and encourage new people to help the church 'blooming'.

Chris Hoban