On Wednesday evening it was the WI garden group Christmas do. We hired the hall where we have our monthly meetings – the garden group usually meet in members homes or go out to gardens to visit.

A lovely pot luck supper

We all bring something delicious to share. This year we had several interesting little nibbly things and a glass of something to start with whilst we mingled and chatted by candlelight. Then we had our speaker, more of that in a moment, and we had supper at 8pm. There was a fish pie, a wonderful chicken, cream, veg concoction topped with crispy crumbs,  a beautiful casserole and I took an onion tart that I’d mixed some crispy fried chorizo pieces into. For pudding, Deb brought her specialty, a moist cake of almonds, liberally doused with citrus, deservedly demanded everywhere she goes and absolutely delicious, and there was a lemon roulade as well. All topped off with coffee and chocolates. We treat ourselves well you know

Crosslands Nursery

We always have a speaker for this event,  and this year we had Ben Cross from Crosslands Flower Nursery. Ben is a compelling speaker, passionate about his subject and desperate about the parlous state of the British flower market. Ben is the fourth generation of his family to run Crosslands Nursery, which produces magnificant alstroemerias. In the language of flowers, alstromeria represent friendship, so making the perfect gift. Image by Funny How Flowers Do That Established in 1957 by Bens grandfather, the Nursery is desperate for new markets. All the old ones have all but gone and it would be a terrible shame for this great business to fold. He has tried Countryfile, the National Farmers Union, local television, absolutely everything he can think of. He does a lot of talks, a lot of publicity, a lot of reaching out, and he says that the only people that are listening are the WI. Images by Emma Davies Photography

A call to action

Talking to Ben on Wednesday evening about this, he said that he will send a delivery of 10 bunches to anywhere in the U.K. for £1 to £2 a bunch (depending on grade of flower) plus £5 delivery. Which brings me to why I am talking to you about this today. If you have a family party, a weddding, a group of friends to share, would you please consider ordering flowers from Ben. They are picked every day in the summer, three times a week in the winter and are spanking fresh. Because they are so fresh, they will last three weeks in the vase. Ben will come and talk to your organisation if it’s not too far away, and he runs tours of the nursery if you would like to take a group around to see everything for yourself. Please try and support this lovely business if you can, or maybe pop over to the facebook page and say hello

Image from Paula Pryke flowers Ben Cross Crosslands Flower Nursery (est 1957) Barnham Lane Walberton Nr Arundel West Sussex BN18 0AX 077 123 42241 Crosslandsflowernursery@gmail.com Facebook page https://t.co/U9BQW02vEe all images are from Crosslands facebook page