UK Florist of the Year: Finalist Introductions

Hannah Beckley

Hannah has a master’s diploma in floristry, with a love for competing and facing new challenges. She has competed in WorldSkills special edition 2022 for which She was trained by Laura Leong. Hannah was in the Interflora world cup semi-finals and with 7 years in the industry currently, she enjoys exploring form linear designs and expanding her knowledge further on its flower placements. She decided to enter UK Florist of the Year in hope to further her knowledge, to test her skillset and to learn off of others.

Charlotte Davies

Charlotte is a passionate florist with 18 years experience under her belt working at the family run business, which she has just fully taken over this year, located in Abergavenny, South Wales.

charlotte loves all things floral, and loves working with natural materials to create beautiful and originative designs for customers and clients on a daily basis.

She particularly loves competitive floristry, with her first competition back in 2009 which gave her the bug for competing. Throughout the years Charlotte has competed and won every colour medal at RHS Chelsea Flower show, been in the Interflora Florist of the year finals, and most recently was Elizabeth Newcombe’s assistant as Team UK at The Interflora World Cup last September.

Charlotte is really looking forward to the UK Florist of the Year final, to showcase her designs and style.

Sarah Horne

As an internationally renowned, creative floral artist Sarah has been awarded three Chelsea Gold medals and has won the prestigious title of Chelsea Florist of the Year 2011. Competing is in Sarah’s blood, she reached the finals of the Interflora Florist of the Year, represented the UK at Florallies in Pau and won the Metz and Earthworks trophy.

Sarah has demonstrated her skills around the world but the thing that she is most proud of is that her and her team have been delivering floral joy from her high street flower gallery in Royal Leamington Spa for over 44 years.

Joseph Massie

Joseph Massie is a floral designer, educator, writer and broadcaster, with twenty years experience in the floral industry.

He has won eighteen national & international competitions and awards, including five consecutive Gold Medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

His work is commissioned regularly by leading museums and art galleries. His bestselling book, The Flower School, was published in 2022. Joseph is the co-host of the popular Flowers After Hours podcast.

Based in Manchester, UK, he is the founder of The Flower Class membership, and teaches and tours extensively around the world.

Helen Pannitt

Helen is the owner of Helen James Flowers based in the beautiful spa town of Harrogate, a renowned floral designer who has attained silver, silver gilt & Chelsea Gold medals and been awarded the title of Chelsea Florist of the year in 2019.

Helen was invited to represent the UK at the World Floral Art contest in Beijing, China in 2019 and was a finalist at the Interflora florist of the year competition in 2022. She has also gained numerous awards at BFA FleurEx and the 
Harrogate Flower Show.

Laura Pannitt

After living abroad, Laura returned to work at the family business, Helen James Flowers, in 2017. She also enrolled at Shipley College to study level 2 and 3 Floristry.

Laura has often competed at the Harrogate Flower show, receiving several 1st places before deciding to take the plunge and submit her own design for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2024, where she obtained a gold medal.

The final will be her first time competing in this style of competition; She is excited to push her skills and hopes this experience will further her creativity and technical ability.

Jaiden Abraham

Jaiden started floristry 2 years ago, She completed her Level 2 last year achieving a merit and recently completed her Level 3.

Jaiden did both Level 2 and 3 at Farnborough College of Technology. She recently got a job at Nightingale Flowers in Farncombe, Godalming, and did work experience during the course at Longacres and Heckfield Place. Jaiden also has a passion for Photography and is going to do a degree at UCA Farnham. In the future, she hopes to incorporate Photography and Floristry together into her own business.

Mandy Bunnett

Mandy qualified and gained the student of the year award at Bath College 2020. Since then she set up a floristry business, Popplecot Flowers. Mandy also works in a local shop, Jolies Fleurs. She enjoys participating in competitions and believes this has been an invaluable development for her career as a florist. Each competition she enters Mandy endeavours to learn different skills and techniques. She is a firm believer of lifelong learning. In September Mandy looks forward to going to Bath University to study a Fine Art degree whilst developing my style in Floral Art. 

Abigail Dewhurst

Abigails floristry journey started at college where she completed her level 2 qualification. This ignited her passion for flowers and creation and led to her continuing her education at Reaseheath college where Abigail has managed to complete the level 3 qualification and had the chance to compete in the top 8 at Worldskills UK. This only grew her love for floristry and pushed her to open a business, Floral Smiles. Abigail is excited and honoured to be competing with BFA so she can show her creations. Abigail still can’t believe she made it to the finals.

Ayla Farrelly-Jones

Ayla is 20 years old and has been doing floristry at West Malling flowers since she was 14. Ayla found a love for it as she saw the huge impact flowers made on peoples lives and she wanted to bring happiness to people, just like the girls she worked with do. Ayla is so happy she made it into the finals and cannot wait to see what’s in store next….whatever it maybe She’ll put a little sparkle into it.

Katherine Holmes

Katherine is a passionate florist with a recently completed Level 3 qualification from Doncaster College. She discovered her love for flowers through NAFAS 2.5 years ago. Since then, she has immersed herself in the floral world, gaining invaluable experience through freelancing and solving floral challenges.

She frequently attends masterclasses from international designers, recently, The European Floristry School.  Balancing her floral obsession with family life, she enjoys time with her husband, two daughters, beloved spaniel, retired horse and rescue pony.

A qualified milliner, Katherine integrates her skills into bespoke bridal work, creating unique floristry projects and cultivating a floristry-focused garden.

Kirsty Noble

Kirsty started in floristry three years ago, working as an apprentice in a local shop. Since starting she jumped straight into competing with WorldSkills UK and studying at The Floristry School Sheffield.

In competitions, Kirsty takes a lot of ideas from her degree in fine art as it is such a good way to refine skills and test your adaptability.

Over the past few years, Kirsty has been fortunate enough to work for some amazing designers who have taught her so much and she’s currently preparing to open her own shop in her local area.