Battle of Flowers entries down on last year

Today and tonight will see all floats all but completed for the popular ‘Battle’, at the North Show tomorrow.

This year there are 44 entries compared to 60 last year, but Battle of Flowers coordinator Emma Sarre said entries for the larger classes had remained constant.

‘We are a little bit down on numbers but there are still some decent-sized floats and real flowers,’ she said.

‘This is mainly a reduction in the number of smaller floats, bikes and wheelbarrows.

'There is a very similar number of exhibits in the larger classes, which is good news.’

In the biggest classes, there will be one real flower float and three paper ones.

‘We are delighted with the entries that we have,’ Ms Sarre added.

‘It would be lovely to see more, but the parade will most definitely be wonderful to watch.’

The most popular class, ‘paper flowers Class H – wheeled, drawn or carried’, has seen seven entries, which she said was great.

‘It’s always nice when the entries come in and you see what people are doing and which themes come up.’

Some Encanto entries will be on show, and the fancy dress competition will be open for entries right up until the day.

Real flowers are usually ordered from Holland, and Ms Sarre said that a larger order had to be made this year.

‘The team that do the big real flower float have lost quite a lot of their crop due to the weather.’

Battle of Flowers regular Tony Falla first entered in 1955, and now one of his fields in the Castel is being used to grow flowers for a large real flower float.

‘Since we planted the flowers, we really haven’t had much rain,’ he said.

‘We planted marigolds, and asters as well but they suffered lots more with the drought, and black leg [a fungal infection on the crop] has reduced the amount that has taken at least 50%.’

Despite these challenges, he said natural flowers retained the traditional aspects of the Battle.

‘It’s traditional and we all like tradition. These are nice and have got a lot of colour.’

He said the battle had changed over the years, with fewer floats and more people had changed to paper flowers.

‘People can get them much easier and to grow real ones you need a bit of experience.There are no big huge floats like there used to be.’