Fetter Lane, London - July 2025

Fetter Lane wins an award!

The Chelsea Flower Show at the Royal Hospital grounds in the middle of May has been attracting thousands of visitors every year since Victorian days. For the past 20 years an accompanying celebration has taken place on the streets of Chelsea called Chelsea in Bloom. All sorts of establishments – shops, salons, restaurants, hardware stores and in 2025 even a church (us) – join in this side-festival by decorating their frontages in line with the theme, which this year was ‘Flowers in Fashion’. Perfect for Chelsea.

Fortunately for us, one of our newest sisters, Jennifer Dunrod, happens to be a floral arranger/artist and relished the challenge. Here’s how she described our display to the festival organisers. ‘The handbag is carried by women of all ages to church, each woman expressing fashion in her individual style and the handbag is mentioned many times in the Bible and in church life; the offering pouch handle, the Shepherd’s purse, David places the stones in the pouch of his bag before approaching Goliath. Handbags carry symbolic weight, representing more than just material possessions.’

The rules of the competition stipulated that all materials used had to be natural, so no Styrofoam or fake flowers. The concept was Jennifer’s with many of the congregation helping out with forming the chicken wire shapes, keeping the display wet during the dry weather and ensuring the ‘handbags’ were securely placed over the gates. After all that work, it was with great pleasure that we heard we had won a bronze award – not bad for a first-time entry.

We were warmly welcomed by the organisers, and we think that this is the first time a church has taken part, adding a spiritual element to the busy Chelsea scene and creating neighbourly connections with local businesses and residents.

Sr Cynthia Dize