20,000 flowers in festival

Oldham flower arrangers are taking part in the biggest floral event at Manchester Cathedral for 20 years this week.

It will be filled with 20,000 flowers arranged by 100 floral artists from clubs and societies across the area, as part of the Manchester International Festival.

Oldham Floral Art Society will be creating an arrangement called “Sacrifice” in the chapel of the Manchester Regiment.

And the display has been given a boost by the Stoller Foundation, set up by former Oldham businessman Norman Stoller.

The society’s vice-chairman, Kathleen Williams, said: “The cathedral’s budget was limited to £350 per display — we have been granted £250 by the Stoller Foundation and raised around £50 ourselves.”

Chairman Doreen Buckley explained: “We will be decorating the Regimental Chapel in red, gold and green and the display will include poppies and red carnations.

“We will also have trays of red carnations going up the steps as though soldiers were walking up them.”

The idea for the festival came from the Dean of Manchester, the Very Rev Rogers Govender, who said: “There has not been such a celebration of floral art in Manchester since the 1950s.

“I thought it was time the cathedral, in the middle of the Manchester International Arts Festival, hosted a unique artistic event. We have asked each artist to take inspiration from key themes found within the Christian Bible, with a special emphasis on ‘Faith, Hope and Love’.”

The 20,000 blooms are being driven from Holland and include tropical flowers and thousands of red roses. Once the flowers have arrived, it will take the artists 24 hours to complete the displays ready for the opening on Friday.

The flower festival runs until Monday, between 10am and 6pm, and entry is £5 (£4 concessions) with children allowed in free if accompanied by an adult. During the family-friendly event there will be a café in the cathedral.