A floral club has won a Gold medal for Floral Design at Chelsea Flower Show.

Hitchin Floral Art Club won the prestigious award at the annual London show last week, with their exhibit ‘Il Carnevale Veneziano’ - the Venetian carnival.

The club was represented by long serving member Gwenda Foster, and new member, Claire Nellis, who have been in collaboration since January this year, when they discovered that the club had secured a place in this prestigious competition.

The class title, stipulated by Chelsea, was ‘Pageant’, and initial inspiration for their design came from an exhibition at the Garden Museum in London.

The exhibition was celebrating the link between gardening and fashion, and featured a Valentino evening dress and cloak which caught their eye, and inspired them to create a costume out of floral materials.

A mannequin was donated to the pair, and Gwenda and Claire spent many hours working on their design over a number of weeks, finally settling on the Venetian carnival theme.

The design was built overnight with the results from a panel of four judges revealed at 1pm the following day.

Gwenda and Claire said: “It was a real thrill to be at the showground all night building up our design, utterly exhausting, but a great privilege to exhibit at Chelsea and well worth all the hard work, both beforehand and on the night. We are absolutely delighted to have received a gold medal.”

The club has won several Chelsea medals over the years.

Hitchin Floral Art Club meets every third Wednesday at 7pm, at Church House, Churchyard, Hitchin, and would welcome new members.

For more information visit www.nafas.org.uk