Sue Corrigan, a partner in Louise Florist in Huntriss Row, started her career at the age of 15 not expecting it to span half a century.

Mrs Corrigan, 65, said: “I just don’t know where the time has gone. It has been fantastic though.

“It is a wonderful career. It is hard work but it is lovely, especially in terms of the artistic work.

“The industry has changed a lot during my time in it, the most significant change being that we are now able to get hold of flowers from all over the world.

“As a result the types of flowers we use have completely changed. It is very interesting and has taught me a lot geographically about where different flowers come from in the world.”

Mrs Corrigan, whose father and uncle were both head gardeners on local estates, started her working career at Wards of Sherburn in September 1959. However at the age of 15 she soon realised an office job was not for her and left after five weeks.

Her mother found her employment as a junior florist at Louise Florist in St Nicholas Street working for a Mrs Murdoch, where she completed her training and worked until she was 21.

In 1965 Mrs Corrigan decided it was time for a change and moved to London, getting a job at The Royal Gardens hotel in Kensington where she worked for Angela Saunders as a residential hotel florist.

During her time at the hotel Mrs Corrigan worked on many banquets, including the celebration banquet for the England football team after winning the 1966 World Cup.

Mrs Corrigan said: “That was without a doubt what stands out in my memory as the most exciting time of my career.

“My hotel was the headquarters for the football team during the World Cup. We saw all the players. It was a joy to do that and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I have never seen so many people on Kensington High Street in all my life.”

Mrs Corrigan also worked at The Hilton in Park Lane, London, for a time, but after four years of working in the capital decided it was time to go home.

Back in Scarborough, she went to work for Quartons, the well-known local fruit and vegetable and floristry chain that had a number of outlets in the Scarborough area.

Mrs Murdoch then got in touch with Mrs Corrigan and asked her to return to work at Louise Florist which had moved to Huntriss Row and had grown to a team of 10 florists and office staff.

During her time at Louise Florist, Mrs Corrigan has enjoyed competition success and represented the North East Region at Interflora National Finals in Glasgow in 1984.

When Mrs Murdoch decided she wanted to retire in March 1989, Mrs Corrigan bought Louise Florist, which later became a family affair when she was joined by daughter Kate as a trained florist and son Tim as office administrator.

Mrs Corrigan is still active in the family business, working part time except at busy periods when she works full time, although says she is not ready to hang up her floristry scissors yet.