Carly comes home to follow a passion for floristry

MY name is Carly Gilmore and I am from Ahoghill, County Antrim. I went to Cambridge House Grammar School in Ballymena and progressed on to study Children’s Nursing in Dundee University in Scotland.

However, in September 2021 I changed pathways and have been studying floristry at CAFRE for the past two years. I completed my Level 2 Technical Certificate in Floristry in 2022 and am currently studying the Level 3 Advanced Technical Diploma in Floristry programme at CAFRE’s Greenmount campus.

I have returned to education after several years in a very rewarding but stressful job as a specialist cancer nurse in Great Ormand Street hospital in London, where I worked all through the Covid-19 pandemic. When restrictions eased, I realised that I really wanted to come back home to Northern Ireland.

I have always had a passion for flowers and felt I needed a real change in career. A family friend had completed the Level 2 course in floristry at CAFRE a couple of years ago and she encouraged me to follow my passion, so I applied and was accepted on the course.

I am thoroughly enjoying college life as a non-residential student travelling from home every day. The staff organise visits out to the local wholesalers, flower shops, event spaces and local flower growers, and we have some great speakers come in to talk to us about business, cut-flower food, capitalising on business opportunities and innovation.

Earlier this month we teamed up with the horticulture class where we were privileged to have Diarmuid Gavin talk to us about his business, Chelsea Flower Show, Garden Show Ireland and a new garden project he is working on with the Antrim and Newtownabbey Council which will be opening this summer.

The floristry facilities at Greenmount are excellent with two dedicated teaching classrooms adjoining a shop sales and display area and a recently added plant studio which provides an area to photograph your work as well as areas for display and for plant and flower identification.

The whole floristry department is set up to represent a typical shop. From the start of the course we follow industry standards from the segregation of waste, conditioning flowers, creating floristry designs, and displaying and packaging the finished product.

Whilst on the Level 2 programme, I was given the opportunity to trial for the WorldSkills UK floristry competition and was delighted that I made it on to the reserve list. I really enjoyed the experience last year.

WorldSkills UK is a competition which brings together many vocational skills from local heats to select the best in the UK. I have received great support from my tutor and past CAFRE floristry UK skills competitors in preparation for the competition. I have reapplied this year which has the theme of sustainable techniques.

I enjoy working with all types of flowers and foliage and particularly like wired designs. I love competing and having to think on the spot and make something unique to me that is totally different.

I am currently working at a shop called Create & Conquer in Cullybackey. It is a beautiful flower shop which has been open for two years now and growing stronger every day. I love working in my local community. The shop is a real wee hub and is always filled with laughter and the scents of fresh flowers.

I would highly recommend both the Level 2 and Level 3 Floristry programmes at Greenmount campus. If you’re thinking about floristry as a career, do it, it was the best decision of my life. Greenmount is an amazing place to learn, and you can let your creativity grow and shine.

Grab the chances that are given to you, enter competitions, complete all your paperwork, research designers and enjoy what you are learning. Remember you get out of any course what you put into it, but most of all enjoy yourself.

CAFRE has given me confidence, broadened my passion, expanded my life skills, and opened a whole new world of possibilities to me. I hope to continue entering competitions and improving my skills, keep learning and one day open my own business.