The Roscommon Garden Club is currently putting the finishing touches to the annual Christmas Charity Gala Night. The Gala Night will be held on Thursday, 8th of December at 8 pm in the Abbey Hotel. Our guest demonstrator is Henk van Enk who is from ‘Go Dutch Flowers’ in Salthill, Co. Galway.
The Dutch native is from Zwollee. In 1971 he went to a florist and garden school where he spent four years gaining an extensive knowledge about gardening. From there he went on to a florist school where he learnt the techniques of floristry and gained practical experience in flower shops. He completed all his exams in floristry in 1977 and after having worked in a small shop to gain experience, he moved to a larger one. It was there where he learnt to do much grander arrangements including parade floats, and went on to be part of the great Aalsmeer Flower Parade.
He took part in flower competitions in Holland and France and he has become an award-winning florist. He opened his first flower shop in 1985 and after 15 years he went to Tel Aviv where he worked alongside a great Arabic florist. In 1999 he came over to Ireland and worked for Madden’s in Galway for nine years. He opened his current shop, ‘Go Dutch Flowers’, in 2009 and having survived the recession, it is going from strength to strength. Henk has seen many changes in the industry having been in the flower business for 45 years. His demonstration is not one to be missed.
Henk will create beautiful arrangements with a Christmas theme and they will all be raffled off along with gorgeous prizes bought from Time Pieces in Roscommon town. There will be a finger buffet with wine, tea and coffee, with tickets costing €20. We would be so grateful if tickets could be bought in advance just so we can cater for the correct number of guests. Tickets can be bought from the reception desk at the Abbey Hotel and from Pat O’Rourke on 090-6625694/086-0774017 or from Helen Dempsey on 090-6626987. Helen is from The Irish Wheelchair Association in Roscommon and it is to this charity we will be donating all the proceeds.
We at the Roscommon Garden Club owe a great debt of gratitude to the staff and management from the Abbey Hotel for all their help and support. Adrian Grealy and his staff continually encourage and back us. Without them our Gala Night would not be the success it is and we are so grateful to them all. Again the Abbey Hotel show great generosity and they have donated a wonderful raffle prize and we thank them so much for that.
We are delighted to have Anne Harlow from ‘Signature Flowers’ and she will have floral arrangements and Christmas gifts for sale and Keith Geelan will have his unique Christmas wreaths. Lynn Naughton from ‘Seams Sew Simple’ will have a range of Christmas crafts and gifts and Cliona Baker will have an assortment of stained glass gifts.
We hope to have a very successful night and look forward to seeing you all.
