The JC Archive Blog No.17 – Flower Day, or 228kg of Coppers - The Jewish Chronicle

Imagine you have a charity you’d like to raise some funds for. If you google ‘fundraising ideas’, the results would advise bake-sales, book sales and junk sales. Or you could hold a sponsored marathon, bike-a-thon, or wrestling match of you are feeling really big and strong.

In the early 1900’s, one of the favourite ways to raise funds would have been a Flower Day.

Flower Days were first reported in The Jewish Chronicle as fundraisers for the Jewish National Fund. The first mention is in 1913, and continue until the 1930’s - when, I suppose Flower Days either changed their name or went out of fashion.

So what happened on flower day?

Here is a description from The Jewish Chronicle, 24^th Oct 1913:

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND FLOWER DAY.

The result of the Jewish National Fund Flower Day last Sunday, exceeded all expectations. The Commissioners expected about a hundred young ladies, and therefore, only twelve thousand flowers were reserved for London. But at the meeting on Saturday evening, the Secretary (Mr. S. Lipschitz) reported that two hundred and fifty young ladies were anxious to sell the flowers for the National Fund.

The result was that on Sunday morning, at nine o'clock, not a single flower was left, and high prices had to be paid for fresh supplies of flowers. The sale of flowers terminated at about half past two in the afternoon, as no more flowers could be obtained.

In all about twenty-five thousand flowers were sold in London, and £140 was collected already, while money is still to come in. In Liverpool £17 was realised from about 2,000 flowers. There too, there was a shortage of flowers. …the Commissioners are very grateful to all those ladies and gentlemen who worked hard on Sunday to make it a success. It is interesting to note that £80 was collected in silver and £110 in coppers (weighing four-and-a-half cwt.)

4.5 cwt is 36 stone, or 228.5kg. That’s heavy – the weight of a big pig!

Flower Day was used during the war to encourage gardening and raise funds for injured soldiers. The Museum Victoria website (link: https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/266327) tells us that:

Flower Day had its origins in the League of Young Gardeners, created in Victoria in 1916 to 'swell the war relief fund, by cultivating garden plots at home'. From this movement sprang several 'Flower Days' which raised £126,354 for war relief.

…The main event of the Day was to be a fund-raising flower show from school gardens - 'Let the children feel that the show is to be their show', advised Supervisor of School Gardening, Cyril Isaac. At schools, the day consisted of morning lessons on war-related topics; in the afternoon schools set up street stalls to sell bouquets and button holes.

The main show was not held in 1918 due to stringent war economies, but £50,000 was still raised. The event petered out after World War I.

And here is an ad for a Jewish War Relief Flower Day.

So when’s the Flower Day for your charity? I’m sure it will be a great success – as long as you don’t have to lug a few hundred kilo of pennies to the bank afterwards!

Rivka Goldblatt is a genealogist specialising in Jewish family history. Her website is www.jewishfamilyresearch.com

The JC Archive Blog No.17 – Flower Day, or 228kg of Coppers

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