THE latest community news from Penparcau

Mothers’ Union

A good turnout of the Mothers’ Union, St Anne’s, came to hear John James, former owner of Black Orchid flower shop and former mayor of Aberystwyth.

He is an amazingly engaging personality and, of course, known to almost all of us already; but few of us were prepared for the demonstration of skill to which we were treated.

In a seemingly effortless, unhurried, yet supremely efficient manner he prepared two decorative displays for Christmas, the larger of which was his alternative to a Christmas tree.

Starting each time with half a block of wet ‘oasis’, he added sprigs of variegated holly at the base and built up the colour with, in the first case, red carnations cut very short and, in the second, red alstroemeria.

A candle, a few pine cones and a very few decorative baubles completed the smaller display, which was shown to great advantage on a red plate.

The larger display used small twiggy branches as a framework, around and within which the foliage and flowers were placed, with a few baubles and some battery-powered lights to finish the piece off.

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