Ninfield's stunning flower festival

Ninfield Memorial Hall was awash with floral creativity over the Bank Holiday weekend.

That the flower festival in celebration of their pearl anniversary did not attract the numbers for which members had hoped was simply a reflection of the weekend's counter-attractions.

For sheer originality of thought and artistic endeavour the festival could hardly have been faulted.

Months of planning and 1,200 worth of beautiful blooms financed by jumble sales and the like had gone into an enterprise in aid of the Sussex Air Ambulance Appeal which began its practical phase last Wednesday with the hanging of drapes in the hall and ended long after the last visitors had left.

Those visitors had been greeted in the foyer by In The Beginning, arrangements by Celia Thripp, Rachel Tompsett, Hazel Mitten and Linda Brunton.

The arrangements represented the designs of the Seventies, before the Continental approach changed accepted thinking in flower arrangement.

Some indication of the degree of forethought which goes into a high-quality flower arrangement was demonstrated by Felicity Parker's tribute to Virginia Wade's 1977 victory - a wooden racquet not graphite, gypsophila to represent champagne bubbles.

Chairman Christine Purkess illustrated the first Superman film in 1978 with a swooping arrangement in blue and red which included celosia - plus a copy of the Daily Planet.

A handbag, the door of No. 10 and the quotation: "You may turn if you want to, the Lady's not for turning" could mean only one thing in 1979, Hope Green's interpretation of Britain's first female Prime Minister.

Fiery reds and oranges bursting upwards from a sea of ash with lava flows of love-lies-bleeding marked Shirley Bosshard's vision of Mount St Helen's 1980 eruption.

The running shoes of Susan Cambell's first London Marathon contrasted with a coin-filled platter and red Tudor roses marking Pat Bryant's raising of the Mary Rose.

Flowers appeared to blossom from the centre of flying discs as Sue Shopland's 1983 ushered in the first CDs.

The colours of Felicity Parker's arrangement complemented those of the roller boots signifying the seven Oscars won in 1984 by Starlight Express.

A giraffe browsed miniature treetops and a design of gerbera and proteas gave clues to the continent in Anne Bourner's stage tribute to Out Of Africa's 1985 seven Oscars.

As Jennifer Collett and Christine Purkess' Halley's Comet shot a trail across the 1986 stage, fallen limbs, a downed chimney pot and scattered furniture could mean only one thing for 1987 - the Great Storm as interpreted by Pauline Parks and Beryl Harmer.

Vacant skis at the top of the slope hinted at Eddie The Eagle's 1988 Winter Olympics effort as seen by Maureen Blackman while Diane Bristow had a simple arrangement growing from the centre of a dish aerial to broadcast news of the 1989's dawn of the satellite tv age.

Hilda Moray picked out the British and French flags in flowers for the 1990 Channel Tunnel opening while Lynn Carter's 1991 memorial to the late Dame Margot Fonteyn frothed out a gypsophila tutu with a rose bodice.

Battlements towering over a roiling mass of fiery colours made Linda Goldsmith's 1992 readily identifiable as the Windsor Castle fire.

Newcomer Sophie Shopland's mature depiction of the opening of Buckingham Palace to fund the castle's repair featured a golden thrown amid a regal display.

Numbered balls in cubes with a sparse, modern floral design by Pat Bryant ushered in the 1993 National Lottery.

July of 1995 was the first hottest of the century, seen through Jacqueline Davies' interpretation via fatsia leaves leaves, carnations and roses.

Frankie Dettori won all seven races at Ascot in 1996. The club committee responded with a saddle and a tree of seven designs.

A cloak, a Hogwarts scarf and broomstick, it could only be the first Harry Potter book in 1997 as seen by Penny Smith.

Dark purple calla lilies and rusty hues hinted with subtlety at The Angel of the North in Jennifer Collett's arrangement while Betty Keen's double wheel and flowing Thames marked first turn of the London Eye.

Mirrors and proteas cleverly ushered in the new millennium as evinced by Christine Purkess' Tate Modern opening.

Glass ball biomes and exotic helicona perfectly illustrated Lyn Carter's Eden Project opening while a crown was at the centre of Shirley Foster's tribute to the Queen's 2002 jubilee.

Ellie Barron marked England's 2003 rugby world cup win by a toppling chimney with fiery blooms at its base and smoky colours at its top complemented a flat cap tribute by sole male participant Arthur Pleasants to Fred Dibnah's 2004 demise.

Ellen Macarthur's yacht sailed on hydrangea sea to a 2005 round-the-world success by Jennifer Collett with Hazel Mitten cleverly evoking Japanese costume in that 2006 Geisha success, Eileen Parnaby giving visitors a glimpse of the future and Linda Schaffer completing a memorable festival with a pearl anniversary floral celebration.