New Milton and Barton flower club to close after 70 years

AFTER 70 years of blooms and friendship, New Milton and Barton Flower Club is to close – another victim of the pandemic.

The organisation saw its membership halved from 100 to 50 since Covid struck, and chair Ed Strudwick said it could no longer afford to keep going.

She told the A&T: “It is really sad. Our monthly costs were at least £400, with every meeting costing around £300 as we had to pay for the flowers and the guest speaker.

“The membership is now down to 50 and we do not have the money to carry on.

“Having been a club for so long, it really is so disappointing and we know our members are going to miss it terribly.”

Lockdowns made physical meetings impossible for the club, which used to be held at Barton’s church hall.

But once Covid was over, Mrs Strudwick said only half the members returned.

The club moved to New Milton in a bid to attract new members but the effort was in vain.

Mrs Strudwick said: “We never really recovered from the pandemic, and I think people are still worried about meetings, although we are very Covid-conscious and take all the proper precautions.

“Our meetings used to be so lovely. A chance to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat.

“We moved to New Milton Memorial Hall hoping that might attract more members.

“But there has been little interest. So we took the very sad decision in December to shut the club down.”

Mrs Strudwick said it was also struggling to replace committee members who had retired or were planning to step down.

The last event held by the club was a Christmas meeting in December.

She said: “Many of us are in our 80s and hoped that a younger committee could be formed, but no one seemed to want to take the roles.”

Funds held by the club are being split three ways with £727 each going to Cancer Research, the NSPCC and the Alzheimer’s Society.