A memorial for slain senior sergeant Lyn Fleming has unexpectedly sparked new friendships and a sharing of creative skills among local artists.
During a visit to the police station, Paula Hume and Vanessa Mullenger noticed a bouquet of brightly coloured pipe cleaner flowers sitting behind the counter. It had been left at the front of the station after Lyn’s death last year.
“We thought they are so cool and so clever, so we took a photo and put a post on Facebook looking for the artist.”
It did not take long for Everlyn Learmonth’s daughter to recognise her mother’s work and send her the post.
Everlyn says creating is just “nature” to her. “I can sew, I started sewing with my daughter doing ballet and jazz, I made her own tutus, I designed my own,” she says proudly.
She says she learnt to make pipe cleaner flowers simply by studying real blooms and following their shape.
Everlyn has made many floral arrangements and is now turning the skill into hair accessories, so she says it’s a perfect time to pass on the floral skill to others.
Her daughter later told her she had “too many flowers now”, so some were sold at a market.
She decided to leave the bouquet, complete with blue and white lillies for Lyn as a mark of respect following her tragic death.
On Thursday, Everlyn headed to Magenta Creative space on Rutherford St, where Paula and Vanessa are both regulars to teach them the skill.
The Facebook post also caught the eye of Sharon Norriss, who wanted to learn the craft.
“I’m just really interested in doing stuff like that. I do cake decorating and I thought it would just complement it,” says the local coordinator of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
“I’d never seen it done before.” They were later joined by a local teacher aide, who wanted to share the skill with children.
Everlyn taught the group how to make small flowers and large leaves and promised to come back to teach them other flowers, too.
