The orchid growing students of Mendip Studio Schools are well known in the UK for their knowledge, enterprise and beautifully grown plants but this Easter they took on a new challenge by taking their plants to Paris for the European Orchid Show.
Chloe McGiveron, aged 16, explained “We had been preparing for the show for about twelve months and took a working micro-propagation laboratory as well as some of our best specimens plants across the channel to the Paris Event Centre.”
The show attracted exhibits from all of Europe’s top commercial orchid nurseries as well as amateur growers from associations across the region but the top prize of ‘Grand Champion’ was awarded to the team from Writhlington and Mendip.
Teacher Simon Pugh-Jones described his team as heroic and added, “Just getting our plants to Paris was an achievement but our success was extraordinary. As well as Grand Champion the display won another four trophies, more than any other exhibit. The secret of our success is the effort successive generations of pupils have put into caring for the plants at school.”
The next big challenge for students will be the World Orchid Congress in Taiwan in 2020 and students are already making plans for a display that will have a lasting impact on the conservation of the tropical orchids they love so much.
