FLOWER BANK: AN INVESTMENT IN HAPPINESS
Barnet mum creates dazzling displays from out-of-date supermarket stock — and hands them to care homes
WITH MOTHER’S Day on the way , this is the busiest time of year for florists — but one Barnet woman has found it more so than most.
Over the last two years, Ursula Stone has been creating dazzling displays in her kitchen from out-of-date supermarket stock.
She transforms what would be waste into a force for social good, delivering her floral wonders to care homes, dementia units and other disadvantaged groups — and often runs floristry activities once there.
The Flower Bank made headlines last week after Ms Stone crowdfunded almost £70,000 to convert a dilapidated Barnet shop into a community florist.
The initiative is all the more inspiring as it relies upon the help of participants on young offenders’ schemes. The Mayor of London backed the social enterprise to the tune of £30,000, with 85 per cent of the rest donated by strangers.
The media attention led to what Ms Stone, 51, jokingly described as her “rock star week”.
But the pinnacle came on last month on Valentine’s Day as a Channel 5 News crew shadowed her, filming everything from her rescue of bin-bound bouquets to her stopover at Jewish Care’s Lady Sarah Cohen House. A short walk from the shop that she plans to open later this year, the home is a regular pit-stop for the mother-of-two, whose daughters attend JCoSS and Wolfson Hillel Primary School.
“I’ve definitely had my 15 minutes of fame!,” laughed Ursula. Amazed by the interest, she thinks her good news story might be “the antidote to Brexit” .
The Flower Bank came about by accident after Ms Stone was made redundant as events organiser at Haringey Council, where she was responsible for Holocaust Memorial Day.
Soon afterwards, she enrolled on a short floristry course which ultimately led to a work placement in central London.
“The waste that goes on in those places is amazing,” said Ursula.
“There was one event where the client spent £10,000 on flowers that ended up in the bin. It really made me angry.”
And so the idea for The Flower Bank was born. Today, she and her trusted volunteers collect consignments of unwanted flowers from supermarkets, florists, event planners and even big banks.
“The irony is if you were to buy those bunches in the morning before they are reduced in the evening, they would be guaranteed for five days,” said Ms Stone, who acts quickly to create fresh and impressive arrangements. “Our motto is ‘bringing joy and beauty to people’s lives’,” she said.
Each week she delivers a design to Jewish Care’s head office, which she has created with participants from Haringey’s young offenders scheme. She also runs activities with residents at the charity’s Lady Sarah Cohen House, and two weeks ago decorated an event at the London Jewish Family Centre.
Janice Galloway is the Living Well team coordinator at Jewish Care’s Betty and Asher Loftus Centre, where Lady Sarah Cohen House is based.
She told the JC: “Ursula arrives at the home with a huge basket of flowers of every shape, colour and size and brings great joy, humour and fun to every session. Each session is based around a special theme or celebration of a Jewish Festival, and individual residents have the opportunity to create their own unique displays for personal and communal areas around the home.