Cindy Young is no stranger to flower arranging. In fact, she is a qualified international floral art judge one of four who successfully completed an intensive, two-year course in Bermuda.Representing Bermuda as an international honorary exhibitor at this year’s World Association of Flower Arrangers (WAFA) World Flower Show in Boston is not only a “first” but a great honour.A member of the judges’ committee of the Garden Club of Bermuda Miss Young and others interested in representing Bermuda were invited to submit a drawing and details of their proposed design to an independent judging group, from which Miss Young’s entry was chosen.The overall theme of this year’s World Flower Show is ‘This Glorious Earth’, which the international honorary exhibitors are given a free hand to interpret. However, their overall arrangement must demonstrate highlights of their country, or depict inspiration drawn from it.The genesis of Ms Young’s design came from the pages of Destination Bermuda magazine, read during a flight to Bermuda.“There was a lovely two-page spread of a beach scene and I thought, ‘I could do something like that for the exhibition’,” she recalled. “One of the things I decided was to highlight our turquoise waters and pink sand. When we were given a space allotment of five feet by five feet I thought of doing three glass cylinders of different-coloured blue water, somehow incorporating a wave coming over. It has evolved slightly differently now, but will be very similar.”Many hours were spent gathering locally grown materials including anthurium leaves. Miss Young dried them in her microwave, and will spray paint and combine them with fresh flowers “probably white” to depict foamy waves.The tallest glass cylinder in the design will be 55 inches, with the other two being slightly shorter. Leaving nothing to chance, the honourary exhibitor has carefully rehearsed her design a practice shared by others of the Bermuda contingent, although she had to improvise with some materials due to the high cost of locally available flowers. Now Miss Young is eagerly looking forward to the challenges ahead, which include competing with Debbie Burville in their Class 18 design, entitled ‘Storm’.“One of the hardest things is interpreting a title, of which we do a lot in the Garden Club for our monthly meetings, and also for international competitions,” Ms Young said. “It is the first world show for all but one of us, and is going to be a big eye-opener and experience because we will be competing against the world as opposed to local people with whom we have been competing before.”Again, months of arrangements and preparation here will be followed by even more work on site, but all of the competitors are up for it.“When we get to the actual venue it is going to be really cool,” Miss Young said. “Because we know quite a few of the people involved it is going to be quite a challenge to get on with our design instead of socialising. There are some fabulous demonstrations at the show, which are all part of the learning experience.”In terms of judging, Ms Young said, “They will be looking for techniques and new ideas, such as fancy wiring, because there are all sorts of new things being sold coloured wires, sticks, gadgets and structures. The judges must also research their titles and come to the task prepared to know what they are talking about. Everything comes down to the principles and elements of design.”The Pembroke resident’s interest in floral arranging was first kindled in childhood when she helped well-known flower arranger Rose Post and her young daughters to collect plant material from around the Island. It wasn’t until after she retired from a busy career, however, that Ms Young joined the Garden Club in the mid-1990s and began actively pursuing flower arranging, and ultimately her international judging qualification. Exposure to eminent international flower designers and judges during the course, participation in international competitions, and membership in the Garden Club itself, have all contributed to the expansion of her overall knowledge and experience.In fact, it was international floral art judge Jean Motyer who not only urged Ms Young and 12 others to study to become international floral art judges but also co-ordinated and taught portions of the course herself. Of the eight who took the final examination in 2008, four passed, of whom Ms Young was one. Debbie Burville, Sue Conyers and Deanna Moss were the others.“Since then we’ve been busy, busy, busy,” she said. “We all enjoy the club, and we are learning all the time. One of the things about being a judge is that you have to keep competing and taking courses, and we enjoy doing that. Several of us have also been to courses over the last two years since we became judges to keep our brains active and learn new techniques.”Ms Young is also a long-time volunteer flower arranger at St John’s Church in Pembroke.