Gill Hodgson co-founded the Flowers From the Farm (FFTF) in 2011, which is a not-for-profit, membership association that champions artisan growers of seasonal, locally grown cut flowers and now encompasses a vast network of flower farmers across the UK.
Hodgson stepped down as FFTF Honorary President in 2024, and has since launched the Farewell Flowers Directory with Carole Patilla, to connect people to independent funeral florists offering natural, beautiful and compostable floral arrangements across the UK. The Farewell Flowers Directory is an innovative, non-profit organisation, which works to demonstrate the beauty of naturally designed funeral flowers, without the need for floral foam or single use plastic.
For the first time in its history, the new association exhibited funeral flowers at the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show to demonstrate that you don’t need to sacrifice beauty for sustainability. The incredible exhibit was rightfully awarded an RHS Gold Medal.
On receiving the news of her MBE last year, Hodgson said: “I am utterly delighted to be awarded an MBE in recognition for my work in raising the profile of British flowers and for encouraging so many more people to make a career out of growing them for market. I couldn’t have achieved so much had it not been for the support of the wonderful past Chairs and Regional Co-ordinators of Flowers from the Farm who have worked alongside me and become lifelong friends. Over the past decade British flowers have developed from an unknown, often denigrated, product into a top-class brand recognised everywhere for their quality. The tremendous boost of receiving this award means I’m really looking forward to 2025 and working with The Farewell Flowers Directory to bring similar success to the previously overlooked world of funeral flowers, taking them out of the shadows and into the limelight.”
