Villagers create stunning ‘Flower Tower’ display at Banbury village church ahead of Queen’s Jubilee celebrations

A photo of the flower tower consisting of more than 4,300 handmade flowers at All Saints Church in the village of Middleton Cheney. (photo by Georgina Campion)

Dozens of volunteers have come together to create a 20-metre tall flower tower at All Saints Church in Middleton Cheney in the lead-up to the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.

Volunteers from the Middleton Cheney village knitted and crocheted thousands of flowers in a rainbow of colours which cascade over the side of the church tower on top of netting.

A local group led by villager Joanne Watts started collecting the handmade flowers from around September 2021. She ran a few crochet teaching sessions at Henry’s Cafe in the village, and others came from volunteers at the church, the local WI group and other area residents.

A photo of the flower tower consisting of more than 4,300 handmade flowers at All Saints Church in the village of Middleton Cheney. (photo by Jacqueline Munday)

Volunteers began sewing the flowers onto netting, which was donated village resident Mervyn Jenkins, earlier this month. Some other volunteers along with help from AGU Treecraft installed the flower tower at All Saints’ Church last week on Thursday May 19.

Joanne said: “There are well over 4,300 flowers on the tower itself. The Queen’s Jubilee was the perfect time for it to be installed.

"Middleton Cheney Memorial Hall and the parish council both provided us space to sew the flowers on. Hours and hours of time from volunteers has been spent to make this happen.

"I am so proud of everyone that got involved. The installation is getting visitors from all over already.”

Photo of some of the thousands of handmade flowers apart of the flower tower at All Saints Church in Middleton Cheney (photo by Georgina Campion)

The flower tower, which is 20m/72ft high and 6m/20ft wide at the bottom, will be up for people visit and view from two months at All Saints’ Church.

Many area residents have taken to social media to post their praises of the flower tower.

One village resident said in a message on Facebook: “Make a special effort to see a temporary art installation on the north face of the tower of All Saints’ Church, commemorating the Queen’s Jubilee. It is a stunning 20 metre cascade of almost 5000 knitted and crocheted flowers in a rainbow of colours.”

Another area resident also highly recommended a visit in a similar Facebook post here: “We visited Middleton Cheney church today. What a wonderful spectacle. So worth a visit celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.”