Schools eschew the ‘battle of flowers’

Press, 5 February 1987, Page 3

Schools eschew the ‘battle of flowers’

Organisers of the Christchurch Floral Festival later this month have had difficulty getting children to take part in the “battle of the flowers” procession on the festival’s final day.

The chairman of the floral festival events subcommittee, Mr Frank Harvey, blames the Canterbury Education Board’s response to the procession for the lack of interest in an invitation to local primary and secondary schools to take part. During the procession children riding in open vintage cars will toss flowers into the crowd and the crowd will be encouraged to throw the flowers back.

Mr Harvey said the board was concerned about negative conotations in the title, “battle of the

flowers,” and did not think children should be encouraged to throw flowers. The Girl Guides Association also declined an invitation to take part, on similar grounds. Mr Harvey said the “battle of the flowers” was a procession held successfully in many other countries. “If all these countries overseas hold it, what is the difference between children overseas and children in New Zealand?”Mr Harvey said.

Flowers were often thrown on other occasions, such as rose petals thrown at the recent Royal wedding. The general manager of the Canterbury Education Board, Mr Keith McNeil, said board members had expressed concern about

the procession, but said it had been the decision of individual schools not to take part.

None of the schools invited have acccepted the invitation. Mr McNeil said the poor response was probably because of the number of activities at present which meant most schools had tight schedules. Mr Harvey said local garden clubs were now finding children to take part.