Sleaford business marks 100 years saying it with flowers

Having been Lincolnshire locals since the 70s it seemed only fair that the global florist network – which has the slogan ‘say it with flowers’ – invited the local community to take part in the fun.

The celebrations included a showstopping two metre high, four metre wide, floral installation in the shape of a 100, using over 5,000 flower stems that was set up outside their main office building on Watergate in Sleaford on Tuesday morning, inviting residents and community groups to go along and join the Interflora team and The Flower Shop florists to create a beautiful, bright spectacle by adding flowers of their choice (provided by Interflora) to create a truly unique piece of floral art.

The base was constructed over a weekend and the design has been brought about by Interflora’s florist consultant and the team at The Flower Shop in Jermyn Street.

Brand manager Beth Day said they wanted to involve the whole community in the celebration and there was a constant stream of people coming forward to add their flowers and take a photo.

Beth said: "We have gone for a very colourful piece to make people smile as they pass.

“We had the Mayor of Sleaford here and lots of other people. A couple of local nurseries turned up to add flowers and lots of people who heard about it and wanted to support the event.”

She said there were lots of former employees who came along to tell their stories too, saying: “We even met the man who helped build the offices.”

Interflora has been a significant part of the Sleaford community since 1974 and currently has over 190 employees in the local area.

Former Interflora employee Kim Hiscocks, of Billingborough, added a flower and recalled starting as a 17 year-old straight from school as one of the youngest staff on the first day the office opened in 1974. She said: “In those days it was all telephones and telex machines and no computers, with ship-to-shore radio messages before getting the orders out to the flower shops. I loved it.”

In addition to the floral installation, the anniversary will be marked with a special 100 years bouquet that is available to order online and handmade by local artisan florists from their network.

Interflora also celebrated with colleagues during the day, with a birthday party in the afternoon in Interflora’s office building which recently underwent a £1.8m facelift after welcoming back staff following the pandemic and working from home.

Commenting on the momentous day, Lyn Davies, consumer director at Interflora said: “Interflora is proud of its roots in Sleaford and we are thrilled to be celebrating such a significant milestone with the local community. For 100 years we’ve been bringing people together so it only seems fitting that we share our milestone birthday by bringing our community together.”

To find out more about Interflora and its 100th anniversary visit: www.interflora.co.uk