A special spring flower mosaic made of Dutch bulb flowers was unveiled at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew  this week,  commemorating 70 years since the liberation of the Netherlands

Named ‘Flags of Liberty’, the display is a Dutch thank-you to the Allied Forces. The mosaic of 10 sq.m., made up of 36,000 bulb flowers, was designed by Jan Guldemond, former head designer at the Keukenhof bulb gardens. The bulbs were supplied by JUB Holland.

The colourful display on the foot of the iconic Palm House depicts the British and Dutch flags flying in the wind, celebrating liberty. At the unveiling, the flowers had just started blooming and the display should be blossoming for the next few weeks.

The symbolic handover of the flower mosaic took place was made to Major (Rtd) Kenneth Mayhew (98),  who received from the Dutch Ambassador, Laetitia van den Assum, a beautiful bunch of Liberation Tulips. Major Mayhew is the oldest living carrier of the Military Willemsorde, the Dutch equivalent of the Victoria Cross, an honour he received for his role in the Liberation of the Netherlands in 1944-45. The other veterans who attended, including Major (Rtd) Maurice Hewitt, who fought in the Netherlands in WW II and a group of Chelsea Pensioners, also received a Liberation Tulip.  Apart from the veterans there was also military representation from the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Canada. The German Military Attaché was present to emphasize the importance of peace, liberty and reconciliation.

A group of pupils of three local schools working on a project around freedom and reconciliation were present at the ceremony and had a chance to talk to the veterans about their experiences.