Charlotte Briggs’s journey into the world of floristry began long before she enrolled at Reaseheath College or found herself holding one of the most coveted awards in the land-based education sector.
Christmas at Cheshire’s Arley Hall is always magical, and this year, its splendour reached new heights thanks to the creative talents of Reaseheath College’s floristry students.
Two Floristry students from Reaseheath College are celebrating after being shortlisted for the prestigious 2024 Land-Based and Environment Learner of the Year Awards.
The talents of two exceptional Floristry students from Reaseheath College blossomed during an event marking the launch of National Florist Day.
Our floristry students have continued to prove they are among the nation’s best by taking top awards at this week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s most prestigious flower show.
A practising solicitor, Elizabeth combines her daytime career with her passion for floral design.
Introduced to floristry through a Saturday leisure course offered by our Floristry Department, Elizabeth was so inspired that she continued learning on our beginners, intermediate and advanced level NOCN evening classes.
She then progressed onto the professionally recognised City & Guilds Levels 2 and 3 Diplomas and in 2013 achieved her Level 4 Higher Diploma – one of the most advanced qualifications available.
Elizabeth has found that her love of flowers, coupled with the inspiration and training offered by our lecturers, has opened doors to a whole new world.
Now, Elizabeth’s primary floral passion is the art and philosophy of Ikebana – Japanese flower arranging She has gained her Associate Second Master’s certificate with the Ohara School of Ikebana, and is one of only a handful of English people to achieve this level. Elizabeth teaches Ohara Ikebana in London to students of all nationalities, including several who fly to London from overseas to attend her classes.
Busy Elizabeth is also President of the Manchester Chapter of Ikebana International and Vice-President of the England Chapter of the Ohara School of Ikebana.
“My journey has been amazing,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed every one of my courses at Reaseheath. They have all helped to foster and pull together my interest in floral design.”
Floristry students had the chance to learn from a leading expert when Diane Fair, an international floral demonstrator for the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies (NAFAS), gave a demonstration in our historic Old Hall.
During her demonstration Diane, who is also a qualified floristry judge and an award winning competitor at local and national level, created six contemporary and traditional floral designs. She also gave our students tips for their future careers. Students on both full time and leisure courses attended the event, gaining first hand knowledge of how a professional demonstration is organised.
This was the first time Diane had used a college as a venue, but not the first time she had visited our campus. She launched her floristry career as a competitor at a Young Farmers Rally at Reaseheath!
Said Diane: “It was lovely to be joined by so many keen young people and a great chance to tell them about the many opportunities in the industry.”
Reaseheath College gave Sophie, Countess of Wessex, a right royal welcome when she visited the college’s award winning stand at the Cheshire Show earlier this week (June 23 and 24)
Her Royal Highness, who is Cheshire Show President, spent 20 minutes chatting to staff and students and inspecting the stand’s activities. She particularly admired Reaseheath’s mechanical horse and a pizza oven built by construction students and was keen to find out more about apprenticeships.
Stand organiser Stephanie Owen said: “The Countess seemed to be very knowledgeable and supportive of landbased industries and asked a lot of pertinent questions about our work with rural businesses. She seemed very natural and was obviously enjoying carrying out her duties at the show.”
The Nantwich college’s visitor friendly stand had earlier taken the top award in the education section, with judge Marie Birkenhead paying tribute to the range of activities on offer and the enthusiastic and well informed staff.
Mrs Birkenhead said: “Reaseheath College’s stand was far and away the best exhibit in its section and really met the criteria, which is to educate and inform visitors about the countryside. We were impressed with the attractive display offering activities for all ages, but what was most outstanding was the wonderful welcome which all visitors received when they went on the stand.”
Top crowd puller on the stand was a Caterpillar digger which gave visitors the chance to operate the controls. Apart from riding the mechanical horse, families were able to have a go on a climbing wall and try milking a model cow. Other activities, under the banner ‘Do Something Different’, included a display of the latest horticultural technology and a chance to make floral buttonholes and beaded dragonflies. Animals from the college’s zoo and a scarecrow from this summer’s ‘Superhero’ maize maze were also on display.
Reaseheath agriculture students took part in breed showing and young handler classes in the cattle show ring with heifers and a cow in milk from the Reaseheath Holstein dairy herd. The student team were awarded first place in the ‘tidy lines’ competition.
Deputy Marketing Manager Faye Thomson-Butt said: “This has been a fantastic opportunity for us to demonstrate the range of vocational courses we offer. We are very proud of the success of our students and coming to the Cheshire Show each year gives us a great platform to show the public what we can do.”
Caption: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, joins Stephanie Owen and agricultural lecturer Mark Walton on Reaseheath College’s stand at the Cheshire Show.
Floristry students and staff during their visit to Bluebells Florist
Our florists have enjoyed a visit to an exciting floristry shop in Crewe which has been opened by a fellow student and her mum.
Level 2 Diploma in Floristry student Sophie Garratt and her mum Julie Garratt, who also studied floristry at Reaseheath, launched their new venture ‘Bluebells Florist’ in Underwood Lane, Crewe, earlier this month.
Sophie, 17, a former pupil at Ruskin High School, Crewe, plans to progress onto her Level 3 Diploma in Floristry at Reaseheath while helping in the shop part-time.
She explained: “Me and my mum had planned to run a floristry business together for some time and the right opportunity came up. Fortunately work experience is a big part of my Level 3 Diploma course so I can work in our own shop on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays when we’re at our busiest. I’ve already learned how to create window displays and do stocktaking and ordering at college, so that’s really helped me.
“It was great to show the floristry students and staff what we’ve achieved so far. We’ve already had a stream of local visitors into the shop along with our first orders, so we’re really excited about the future.
Giving the venture full marks, floristry lecturer Helen Cooke, who accompanied the group to ‘Bluebells Florist’, said: “Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the visit and were really impressed with what Sophie and Julie have achieved in such a short time. We wish them the best of luck and are looking forward to hearing about more as the business progresses.”
Contact Bluebells Florist on 01270 617282
Reaseheath College in Cheshire has become the first in the UK to integrate a cutting edge software management system into its floristry teaching.
The Strelitzia software is an intuitive programme which incorporates all aspects of running a floristry shop into one system. Used widely throughout the industry in this country and abroad, it enables shops and managers to communicate efficiently with each other and with suppliers through structured links into the industry’s web-based systems. This speeds up processes from ordering and organising deliveries to completing invoices, preparing reports and tracking marketing techniques.
The top-of-the-range technology is being introduced to Reaseheath floristry teaching staff this month and will be incorporated into student lessons from March. It will become an established part of all courses from Level 2 Diploma in Floristry upwards from September 2015. The department also plans to run short courses so it can share knowledge and training on the system with local floristry businesses.
Sue Poole, Programme Leader for Floristry, explained: “This software system brings the day to day running of floristry shops up to speed with today’s retail world. It is definitely the way forward and we are proud to be the first college to incorporate the technology into our courses. We view it as a very positive move, as these additional skills can only improve the employability and entrepreneurship of our students.”
Mark Bennett, a Director of Strelitzia Software, said: “We are delighted that Reaseheath College recognises the importance of educating florists early about the benefits of a software management system.”