The Lord Mayors Parade, a prestigious gathering in, among others, the Guildhall of London, where the new mayor of London is sworn in. Nine very involved Rijnsburg exporters sponsored the event and the flowers. Beforehand, I flew back and forth from the Netherlands one day to discuss the decoration with the mayor's wife. High tea in the Victoria Hotel, with a string quartet. What an experience! Coming from a very ordinary background, I was almost more impressed by that than the enormous decoration that I built there with my team of freelancers in just a few days. After all, that was what I took for granted at such a young age and did with dedication and passion.
I thought it was a great compliment that the Telegraaf, the well-read Stan Huygens news, paid attention on Saturday to this great assignment that I received at such a young age.
In preparation for the event, huge frames of flowers were ordered, frames were welded and transported, additional materials were sent, you name it.
Once there, trailers full of flowers had to enter the building. Because the English Royal Family would also be present at the dinner; Queen Elizabeth and -then Prince- Charles and Diana, security was extremely high. Every crate of flowers had to go through the scan (one where you put your bag in a container, just like at an airport). After stacking and emptying the buckets from the third auction cart with flowers, the security guards understood that it was impossible to unload all the trailers full of flowers in this way and everything was allowed to enter through the back door.
We worked diligently with the team to complete everything on time. That worked and how.
The letter from the Mayoress says it all.