PLANS are in place at Salisbury Cathedral to make this year’s flower festival the biggest yet.

That’s the message from organisers who are looking to help ensure the Cathedral’s Magna Carta celebrations reach a floral crescendo.

This September up to 500 flower arrangers from across the diocese will take part in the festival themed around Magna Carta.

Nearly 20,000 people are predicted to visit the event, which takes place over several days between Tuesday, September 15 and Sunday, September 20.

Floral art works set to be included are a series of giant fantasy flowers and a series of massive hanging lampshades.

There will also be a central display designed to reach the full length of the nave, depicting chaos on one side and order on the other, symbolising the country before and after Magna Carta.

Michael Bowyer, creative director of Salisbury Cathedral, said this year’s event would be big in ambition and big in form.

He said: “The values and history that we are trying to express are huge both in impact and legacy so we have had to find structures and forms that speak to that.

“The planning has been on-going for about a year and for the last two months we have been running workshops with flower arranging clubs all over the country, creating the basic infrastructure for the exhibits.”

This year’s flower arrangers are being co-ordinated by Susan Branch, the administrator of Salisbury Cathedral Flowers.

She said: “We have to have a strictly regimented timetable, engineered to the minute, so that people have enough space to work - but there’s a great atmosphere too.”

Chris Wolfe, of Southeast Flowers, is providing this year’s blooms and foliage for the event.

She said: “Our biggest day is the Saturday before the festival opens. We start at 4am and work through until 10pm sorting, checking and loading so that we can deliver to the Cathedral on Sunday night after Evensong. On Sunday we work straight through – only stopping when the job is done even if it means a 2am finish. The Cathedral arrangers will work all day Monday and on Tuesday they’ll be there for the public to see.”

CONTACT ME:

t: 01305 756032

e: oscar.tollast@dorsetecho.co.uk

twitter: @DorsetEchoOscar