Gill Hodgson of Everingham in Yorkshire has been awarded an MBE for Services to Floristry in the New Year Honours List 2025 . Passionate about British - grown flowers and sustainability , Gill Hodgson has " transform " the reality of floristry in the UK . Gill is the founder of Flowers from the Farm , an laurels - winning association championing artisan agriculturalist of British slice flush , and of The Farewell Flowers Directory , an online listing service that aims to transfer formative flowered froth from the funeral industry by connecting people to florists who offer fully compostable funeral flowers .
Gill HodgsonPhoto credit : Amanda Gilpin
Gill state on receiving the news : " I am utterly delighted to be award an MBE in recognition for my study in raising the visibility of British flowers and for encouraging so many more people to make a vocation out of acquire them for the market . I could n’t have achieved so much had it not been for the support of the wonderful past Chairs and Regional Centennial State - ordinators of blossom from the Farm who have worked alongside me and become lifelong protagonist . Over the past decade , British flowers have developed from an unsung , often denigrated , product into a top - class brand recognized everywhere for their quality . The tremendous encouragement of receiving this award imply I ’m really looking onward to 2025 and work with The Farewell Flowers Directory to bestow alike success to the antecedently overlooked world of funeral efflorescence , have them out of the shadows and into the public eye . "
Gill launch her own flower husbandry business Fieldhouse Flowers in Everingham , Yorkshire in 2010 , selling from an honesty box at the farm gate . On discovering that there was no business organization of flower cultivator she could bring together , Gill go under about creating one . In 2011 , she founded Flowers from the Farm , a not - for - gain membership association with the stated aims of promoting local , seasonal British cut flower , advance more the great unwashed to grow for the market in the UK , and fostering a spirit of friendly relationship and cooperation .
pic credits : Fieldhouse Flowers
In May 2024 , Gill embarked on her next mission , set up The Farewell Flowers Directory , an on-line itemisation serve that connects people to independent funeral florists across the UK . Its intent is to remove plastic floral froth from funeral floristry and demonstrate that , in Gill ’s words " you do n’t have to give beauty for sustainability " .
