On Tuesday 29 June 2010, I will be privileged to be present in the gardens of PACT House to plant out the newly appointed PACT Rose, bred by Bob Webster and Joan Lund five years ago and very kindly grown by Andrew and Tracy Lund of Handley Rose Nurseries, Marsh Lane, Sheffield. The appointment of this rose to be sold on behalf of PACT holds a very personal meaning for the original breeder, Bob Webster, who lost his own niece to Leukaemia more than 35 years ago. The PACT rose, which is a beautiful, delicate open flower English Rose with peachy pink petals and a hint of yellow is available from Handley Rose Nurseries at a cost of £10.00, of which £5.00 will be donated to PACT from every sale. Perfect for cottage gardens, small gardens and patios. It can also be bought as a bare root and sent anywhere in the UK between November and March. Don't delay - order your PACT Rose today!

On 17 May 2010, our dear friend Kate Scott successfully ran the Eyam Half Marathon in memory of Laura and in aid of PACT. Raising over £250.00 for PACT through sponsorship, Kate endured the up hill and down dale of this hugely challenging half marathon and once again achieved her personal record of 1 hour and 58 minutes. What an impressive achievement! Given that I would not even make it to the end of our road, I remain in awe of Kate's stamina and capability. Thank you so much from us all here at flowersforlaura.com and, on behalf of PACT.

Why not cheer yourself up, have a laugh and help Macmillan Cancer Support all at the same time? Our good friend, Ray Lawrence, has in conjunction with Macmillan Cancer Support, published a wonderful book of his extremely witty verse with all proceeds going to help this incredible organisation. I defy anyone to keep a smile from their lips during a browse through Ray's superb writing so dig down and make a donation today. Copies of 'It Could Be Verse!' are available directly from Ray - email: toplawrence2@aol.co.uk, price £4.99. Why not visit Ray's blog too http://poetickle-topblogger.blogspot.com

This year we are pleased to be providing the flowers for the Cavendish Centre's annual Ladies' Lunch to be held at The Maynard, Grindleford on Thursday 17 June 2010, to raise funds for their work. The Cavendish Centre provides an incredible range of support and therapies to those people affected by cancer and do a truly amazing job. Our heartfelt thanks go to The Workshop and A4e, both of whom have very generously sponsored the flowers this year. We wish the Cavendish Centre every success with this event.

Are you stuck for the perfect entertainment for your wedding? Do you want to bring back the Blues Brothers? Shake your groove thing? Rock around the clock or add a dreamlike quality to your Reception with a classical quartet? Look no further than Bandstation UK. Bandstation UK will source and supply you with the perfect music for your special day. We are very excited to be working with this fabulous team of people. You can call Andy or Jon on 07866 345783 or email: info@bandstationuk.com

Last Wednesday saw us, Shoot Lifestyle Wedding Photographers and Cakes by Rachel Edwards join forces with Julia Harrison of Go Glorious, a new and exciting venue styling business, taking over the truly gorgeous premises and gardens of The Maynard at Grindleford for a photo shoot to show four different wedding styles. How lucky were we to be blessed with fabulous weather sufficiently dry and bright to shoot the Vintage themed table in all its glory beneath the boughs of a fully flowering cherry tree on a petal sprinkled lawn. It just doesn't get any better than that in my book! Huge thanks to Paul Downing and his team, Charlotte, Kate, Jess, Gary and Ben for hosting our shoot. Watch this space for further news of Go Glorious and, of course, the photographs!

Last night saw the PACT Charity Ball held at a new venue, Baldwins Omega in Sheffield. Kindly hosted by Mr. and Mrs David Baldwin, the generosity of the Baldwin's enabled PACT to maximise this new opportunity to generate funds to support its work for families and their children, who are suffering from childhood cancers and being treated at Sheffield Children's Hospital. With over 275 guests attending, the PACT staff together with a team of willing volunteers held a hugely successful event. We will await news of how much money has been raised for this very special cause with anticipation!

Yes, we have finally done it! Although a little sad too, we are delighted to have taken the decision to specialise in weddings, civil partnerships and events with effect from 1st May 2010. The demand for our wedding flowers has grown so significantly that we no longer have the capacity to deliver occasional flowers. We would like to thank all our regular and loyal customers who have supported flowersforlaura.com from the beginning and helped us support PACT. You all know where we are should you need our services as a wedding or event florist in the future. Thank you for helping us and, most importantly, helping children with cancer.

We try to do whatever we can to support Macmillan Cancer as well as our local children's cancer charity, PACT. Why not treat yourself to the delights of the St. George's Celebration Dinner being held at Thornbridge Hall on Friday 23rd April 2010 - tickets cost £50.00 with entertainment. Pimms at 7.00 p.m. followed by dinner with carriages at midnight. You never know you might win our raffle prize - a beautiful flowersforlaura.com hand tied bouquet! Tickets available from Mrs Celia White on 01433 630352

Sheffield-based lawyers, Irwin Mitchell invited a group of their clients to participate in a fun-filled evening of floral delights as 18 women went head-to-head, or perhaps we should say bloom-to-bloom in a flower arranging competition last Thursday 25th March. Penelope and I led the way providing them with a raft of handy hints and tips as well as some beautiful flowers with which the competitors all turned out stunning table arrangements. The tough task of judging fell to me and eventually after much deliberation, I was able to award a well deserved 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize to three budding florists. Well done to everyone who attended - it was a lovely evening.

Did you know that 2010 is the 50th anniversary of the charity Leukaemia Research (now known as Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research - beating blood cancers)? You can find out more about leukaemia and lymphoma research by visiting them at www.llresearch.org.uk This charity is leading the way in ongoing efforts to beat blood cancers. More young people under 40 die from blood cancer than any other type of cancer so please visit the site and do whatever you can to help and commemorate the 50 years work of this amazing charity.

The Wedding Fair at The Maynard was fabulous! Penelope and I spent the day at our stand meeting lots of lovely brides-to-be, mums and of course, some grooms-to-be too. The snow stayed away and we were delighted to be kept so busy throughout the day. Our thanks to Carly and her team at The Maynard for staging such a wonderful event. We hope all the visitors enjoyed it as much as we did.

Why not treat yourself to a fabulous night out and help children with cancer? This year's PACT charity ball is taking place on Saturday 8th May at Baldwin's Omega, Sheffield. Tickets are priced £45.00 each which includes a five course meal with reception drink, entertainment and dancing. There will be a raffle, auction and silent auction, all in aid of the familes and their children being treated in the Oncology Ward at Sheffield Children's Hospital. For further information please contact the PACT Office on 0114 272 4570. We hope to see you there!

Are you getting married this year or even next? Why not come and see us at the Wedding Fair at The Maynard in Grindleford on Sunday 28th February. The Fair is open to all from 11.30 am to 4.30 pm. We will have some of our wedding designs on display, our newly published wedding flowers book and a gallery of flowers for you to see. We look forward to seeing you there.

If you are looking for a perfect gift (to send with your beautiful flowers from us, of course!) then we recommend you visit Josie's Dragonfly and take a look at their beautiful jewellery. A gift purchased from Josie's Dragonfly will be helping provide a very special gift to a child or young person when told that their cancer treatment is no longer considered as curative. What better reasons could there be to give such a lovely gift?

Weddings Galore! We have updated the weddings section of the site so you can now see some of the gorgeous weddings we have designed flowers for in 2009. We have also added a new section - wedding links with other useful sites and also some comments from our brides (and their mothers!). Enjoy.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year - here's to a happy, healthy and hopeful 2010 for us all! We will be closed for flower orders during January but will re-open again on Monday 1st February 2010 - please do return to us then for our lovely fresh flowers.

Come and see us and some examples of our Christmas flowers this Friday 4th December at Mylnhurst Christmas Fayre, Mylnhurst School, Button Hill, Ecclesall. Everyone is welcome and there will be traditional Christmas stalls, homemade refreshments, a Choir and a Band as well as Santa's Grotto for the little ones. The Fayre starts from 1.00 p.m. until 4.30 p.m. - we hope to see you there - please come and say hello!

Stuck for Christmas presents, or for any other occasion for that matter, then give Alison Hatley a call at Lasting Impressions. We discovered Alison's gorgeous handcrafted jewellery, art work and stained glass recently at an event we attended and Penelope and I were like magpies! Alison's work is just lovely. Manageable prices and perfect for that person you never know what to buy for. I came away with a pretty necklace crafted out of buttons and a new Christmas decoration for our tree - an exquisitely made stained glass angel - of course, now known in our house as Laura's angel - what else could she be called?! You can call Alison on 0114 236 1703 or 07743 774605, alternatively email at: hattersali@yahoo.com

Why not join our flowersforlaura.com Facebook group? Keep in touch with us and all our friends and see examples of our work and get advance notice of events we will be attending. We look forward to hearing from you!

You can get a preview of some our Christmas flowers by coming along to Dore Primary School's Christmas Market on Thursday 19 November 2009 in the school hall at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are £2.50 each (with all proceeds going to support the School) and this includes a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie. What fantastic value for a night out! flowersforlaura.com will be one of a number of lovely and interesting stands so do make it a date and come along and beat the Christmas crowds by cracking some of that Christmas shopping.

The Christmas issue of House Beautiful magazine is out now! Don't forget to grab a copy next time you are out and about and read about us and our Christmas flowers. It is the December/January issue plus you get all the excitement of a free House Beautiful gold notebook - perfect for those Christmas lists!

We found ourselves next to Lissa Cook and her beautiful children's clothes, hand stitched in the most exquisite Liberty prints at this year's Macmillan Cancer Care Seasonal Fayre at Hassop Hall. Not only did we think Lissa was lovely but we thought her work was gorgeous and no child should be without one of Lissa's pretty outfits. We thought Lissa's prices were wonderful value and if you visit Peak Princess and sign up to Lissa's mailing list, you can also get some truly amazing bargains in Lissa's sample sales. We recommend you don't waste time and visit now!

This year amidst the most beautiful surroundings of Hassop Hall in the Peak District we had our first flowersforlaura.com stand at the North Derbyshire Committee's Macmillan Cancer Support Seasonal Fayre. What a lovely event! We found ourselves just by the coffee stand (great location!) opposite a lovely lady, Lissa Cook, who runs her own business called Peak Princess - see our separate blog entry about Lissa's gorgeous children's clothes. The event was well attended and we had lots of interest so we definitely recommend you trying to attend next year - excellent for early Christmas shopping. You can find out more about Macmillan Cancer at www.macmillan.org.uk

We've just delivered flowers to the owner of a new baby shop, boo! baby, on Abbey Lane. Why not visit for yourself and see the fabulous range of baby delights that boo! baby has on offer? Located at 22 Abbey Lane, Sheffield, S8 0BL you can call on 0114 327 9395 or email: boosheffield@googlemail.com We wish Shelly and her partner every success in their new venture.

How lovely to find ourselves creating beautiful flowers for the Hear, Women Poets, Here event in the wonderful surroundings of St. George's Church on Mappin Street in Sheffield on Thursday 8th October, National Poetry Day. The event, to celebrate both National Poetry Day and this year's appointment of Carol Ann Duffy as the first female Poet Laureate, is one not to miss. Some of the region's finest poets will be reading their work including our hugely talented neighbour, Sally Goldsmith. Don't miss out - bookings are through Signposts - 0114 253 6722. Go to Off the Shelf to find out more about Sheffield's Festival of Writing and Reading.

Congratulations to Tricia Pitchfork, Anne Elsdon and Elizabeth Watson together with all their friends and families for raising £1200 at their Coffee Morning on Friday 25th September in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. We were pleased to donate one of our flower arrangements to the raffle and thrilled to hear the event was such a huge success.

Goodness - we made it to page 5 of last week's Sheffield Telegraph - a feature we had not been expecting! We are thrilled that our efforts for PACT and other cancer related charities have been recognised. We know that the £7,500 we have raised so far has been put to excellent use to support the families whose children are being treated for cancer at Sheffield Children's Hospital. Read about our donations in the Sheffield Telegraph

Fancy a fun night out? Skip along to an evening of fun, cavorting, quizzing and dancing at Amy's Retreat Quiz Night this coming Saturday 26 September 2009 at the HSBC Sports and Social Club - for more information call Gabrielle Latham on 07891 609119. Rather like PACT, Amy's Retreat is a charity close to our hearts as this charity supports the Oncology Ward at Sheffield Children's Hospital just like we do at PACT. We are delighted to have donated a flower voucher for the raffle and look forward to hearing from that lucky person with the winning number! Find out more about Amy's Retreat and helping families who have children with cancer by visiting the website at Amy's Retreat.

Hallelujah! This year the weather was kind to Elizabeth Edwards and her beautiful line-up of models showing the ever creative eco-couture range of clothes from Hope & Glory. Once again, we were delighted to add that little floral something to Elizabeth's innovative wedding dress design together with a magical rose wand for the adorable bridesmaid. Who is that gorgeous little girl? We want one too! You can view Elizabeth's full range of eco-couture clothes by visiting her website Hope & Glory - why not book one of Elizabeth's fabulous parties for a night out with a difference? Or give your wardrobe a make-over and get Elizabeth to recycle that dress you will never wear again - you will be pleasantly surprised!

we are delighted to have been invited to exhibit our flowers at an event, kindly hosted by Gilders at Meadowhead, on Monday 28th September with all proceeds from the event going to Cavendish Cancer Care. We love the Cavendish - it is a truly special place and we were fortunate enough to receive support from them when Laura died. We are thrilled to be supporting them and look forward to seeing those of you who are attending this exciting event to hear Alison Mitchell from the House of Colour and Phoebe Dickens from PDDevelopment on Looking Good, Feeling Great - learn more about their work by visiting Pd Personal Development and House of Colour

we had the most fabulous time working out at Millthorpe in early July creating the wedding flowers for Rosi and Simon. The perfect English summer wedding setting complete with a full cricket team. Rosi and Simon were great and Simon's Mum welcomed us together with our many buckets of flowers and foliage to deck out their marquee. The icing on the cake was working with Jo and Simon from Shoot Lifestyle Photography - two of the most talented wedding photographers we know - see an example of their work below and don't forget to visit Shoot Lifestyle for examples of their wedding photography

today we experienced the excitement of our House Beautiful photo shoot. Don't forget to look out for our feature in the Christmas edition of House Beautiful magazine which should be out in November. Here is a sneak preview of one of our Christmas designs - break with tradition and choose pretty pastel colours to adorn your house for the festive period!

welcome to Laura's flower blog! We will be using this to tell you about our latest floral exploits, our work with PACT and other exciting news from the world of flowersforlaura.com - helping children with cancer.