Wimborne Minster Flower Festival is to be opened at 11am on Friday 2 September by Sonnaz Nooranvary, who is the resident upholstery expert on BBC One’s ‘The Repair Shop’.

The event will be supporting both Forest Holme Hospice Charity and Wimborne Minster church.

The British-Iranian TV personality, who hails from Pamphill, became interested in upholstery after dropping out of studying Law at university to undergo an apprenticeship in the skill at Sunseeker in Poole and regularly features on the popular show.

The festival, the first in the town for seven years, runs from Friday 2 to Monday 5 September. It will take place in the Minster Church of St Cuthburga as they mark the 900th anniversary of the start of the building as we know it today. The original foundations go back to the year AD 705 and the 1300th anniversary was celebrated in 2005 when a host of events were held, including a flower festival.

Sharon Austin from Carnival Flowers in Wimborne is designing the festival and has been working hard with a small team from the minster to ensure that the whole event will be a success.

Sharon said: “We are so excited Sonnaz is coming and after such a long wait due to the pandemic it’s wonderful to be finally welcoming visitors back the festival, especially during an important landmark year for the Minster Church of St Cuthburga. There will be a number of tableaux and many other floral arrangements throughout the minster, all depicting the festival theme which is ‘Trades – Past and Present’. A number of flower clubs from across Dorset, one from Hampshire and the minster’s own arrangers are all taking part.”

The festival will be open on the Friday, Saturday and Monday from 10am to 6pm and on Sunday from 2pm until 6pm. On the Sunday, the minster will be celebrating its Patronal Festival and the new Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev Stephen Lake, will preside and preach at the 9.30am parish Eucharist when he will also dedicate the rebuilt minster organ.

Entrance charge to the festival will be £5, with no concessions, but children will be admitted free of charge. All proceeds will be for the everyday costs of running the minster together with a donation to Forest Holme Hospice. They will also be serving cream teas with one of the local traders kindly donating the cream teas.

There is disabled access to the minster and coach parties are welcome. Any further details required please contact Christine Oliver on 01202 888703.