By Sally Sola, Founder, Cheltenham Flower School
Hi, I’m Sally and I run Cheltenham Flower School. I have been a florist for over 20 years, working in everything from high street shops to high end event floristry and weddings. But why did I choose a career in Floristry?
For me, I have been lucky enough to always know what I wanted to do when I grew up. From the age of 6 or 7, flowers captured my interest and I felt it was a way to be creative. Don’t get me wrong, did 6-year-old Sally know this in that detail? NO! Not even slightly; for her it was far simpler. She liked flowers and it was fun and maybe she might be okay at putting them together too, which if I’m honest, was appealing.
I think there was an after-school activity that involved some flower arranging, I have a vague memory of being given a green plastic dish, some oasis and some chrysanthemums. There would have been more flowers I’m sure, maybe a Carnation or two, I can’t really remember. I do remember my Gran thinking that what I created that day was beautiful and from here I think my fate was sealed. At every opportunity she would buy flowers and give them to me to arrange. If there was a vase to arrange in the chapel my family attended, and I was there, she gave it to me to do. Christmas arrangements? That was my job too. I can’t really remember all the details, but I do remember lots of flowers or at least excuses for her to give them to me to arrange.
You would think this would be something that became far less appealing as a teenager. Even the prickly Holly Wreaths my Dad used to ask me to make each year didn’t put me off. I had a brief flirtation with the idea of becoming an interior designer and then with HR. The latter was due to pressure from school to think of a “proper job” as I was about to complete my A Levels. But floristry always won the battle and at the age of 18, after I finished my A Levels, I went to a local Horticultural college to gain a basic qualification in Floristry. If I’m honest, I fully intended to go back to collage after I gained that qualification, but I got swept up in the everyday job, I felt I learnt more actually doing the job in a shop rather than the classroom. Was it glamorous? Far from it. Was it cold? Absolutely. But that was me, I was actually in the industry doing what 6 year old Sally wanted to do. My Gran, sadly never saw it happen but I like to think that she knows. That it was because of her I never lost interest in flowers and is the reason I am still a florist today.
Share this post: