Flower Club honours two Offaly ladies for years of service

AS it was over two and a half years since Birr Flower Club held a demonstration, the ballroom in Dooly’s Hotel was packed to capacity on Tuesday night of last week to witness the lovely Autumn colours turned into beautiful wreaths, demonstrated with loving care and attention to detail by Richard Haslam with neighbouring clubs filing in to see the master at work, and he certainly didn’t disappoint as usual.

Two well known Birr ladies, Kay Eades and Mary Fogarty who retired from the Birr Flower Club recently, were surprised on the night to be honoured for their many long years of service to the club.

The two ladies became interested in flowers when the late Bessy Bridge and her husband Harold, set up the flower show/club behind the Methodist Church in Birr more than 50 years ago.

Kay and Mary have been friends ever since, and years later, the two ladies found themselves immersed in the club. Kay replaced June Powell as Treasurer and Mary found herself helping out her friend with organising functions and outings, trips to garden centres and hiring buses, running raffles, opening up the premises and organising meetings. Kay didn’t drive, and as Mary did, she would take off and pick up keys to open the premises and foliage or whatever else was needed for the meeting, and having everything ready for the members when they arrived. “We worked as a team,” said Mary.

Both Kay and Mary were thanked by the new chairperson Violet Coburn, for the many long years they held the Birr Flower Club together and for doing a wonderful job too.

When it was safe to do so after the pandemic, the club held a meeting and elected a new committee to carry on with the wonderful work that Kay and Mary had done over the years.

Now both ladies can sit and relax and enjoy the demonstrations without the added work load of organising. The group meet every first Tuesday of each month in Dooly’s Hotel and everyone is welcome.