Masterminding Chichester Cathedral’s 2026 Festival of Flowers
People keep asking her if she is excited. Philippa Lane’s response is that she is just taking it all one step at a time – and letting the expectation build.
And building it certainly is towards an event which will bring joy to thousands and, just as significantly, raise much-needed funds for Chichester Cathedral.
The event is the 2026 Festival of Flowers for which Philippa is festival co-ordinator, helping ensure lead designer Caroline Daines’ festival theme of Nature's Embrace is perfectly realised across a remarkable few days.
A biennial event organised by Chichester Cathedral Restoration and Development Trust,
the Festival of Flowers is a four-day spectacular in the setting of Chichester’s 950-year-old Cathedral. So far the festival has raised more than £1.4 million for the Cathedral since its inception in 1996.
This year’s dates are June 3-6, with tickets available on
https://www.ticketsource.com/chichestercathedralrestorationanddevelopmenttrust/e-pbppvy
“It is a wonderful coming together of the community and all the volunteers,” says Philippa who is new to the festival team for this year, taking over from Rhona Scott. “It is so intensely collaborative and so creative. You couldn’t imagine anything more creative.
“I have had a career change. I worked in education for many years and I was looking for a new adventure. The Cathedral really resonates with me and has done all my life. It is part of the fixtures and fittings of my history. The job came up and I just thought it would be so exciting to do. I had visited the festival many, many years ago and I was aware of it because I live locally but circumstances and time meant that I haven't managed to visit other than just the once, but it's great to be doing it now.
“There are hundreds of volunteers and they span the age groups. Caroline, the designer, is really inclusive and has been wanting to include younger people and a real diversity. She has also wanted to include independent arrangers and also get schools involved. All of that is integral to Caroline's vision of Nature's Embrace and how we all benefit from nature, how we are its custodians but how those benefits are reciprocal. It is just tremendous.
“I am part of the team that takes all the moving parts and the cogs and helps to bring them together. The flowers arrive on May 31. They arrive in one big super giant huge articulated lorry and they get replenished if necessary. It's a very experienced team.
“The nave is cleared and we have the flowers brought in along the nave and lined up in numerical order along the centre. Once they're in the nave they then go into the various locations around the cathedral. The flowers all come out in order and each arranger will take the flowers to their area.
“It is a finely-oiled process. They know what they are doing and they have been hugely supportive in helping me navigate my first experience. The learning curve has been extraordinary and exciting. I'm already thinking about the next time in 2028. It's every other year. It has to be. It takes 18 months to organise it. They couldn't do it any quicker!”
As for Philippa’s approach: “I am very compartmentalised. People ask if I'm excited, but I just say that I'm doing it one step at a time. I think that's having worked in education that has done that. It makes you focus on the bit in front of you and then you just build it from there.”