Family florists Wards of York is about to celebrate a very special birthday - and it has joined with the Evening Press to share its celebrations with our readers.

This year the company celebrates 100 years in business, as one of the longest-serving family businesses still surviving in the city.

To get its centenary year off to a flying start, it is offering some super prizes in a range of Evening Press competitions for children, brides-to-be and older married couples.

The first of these competitions is launched today for children, and we are inviting primary school children to design a colourful greetings card which best expresses the emotion of the giver.

There are prizes for two age groups - infants and juniors. Each of the two winning young designers will be able to nominate someone to receive a year's supply of flowers from Wards of York, and their schools will each be able to nominate a charity which will receive £250.

The winning designs will be adopted by Wards throughout their centenary year and will be printed, bearing the young winner's names, and sent out with every bouquet during the rest of 2003.

A selection of the best entries will also be published in the Evening Press.

Seasonal designs or specific occasions are best avoided because the cards will be issued throughout the year for every occasion.

David Bough, managing partner of Wards, said: "The year 2003 will be a very special one to us and we want to make it special for others too."

"This is the first of a series of competitions we are running with the Evening Press and we think we are offering some very attractive prizes.

"We hope that parents and teachers will encourage their children to get out their paints or coloured pencils and let their young imaginations run riot to enter our card design competition."

Entries should be sent to Card Competition, Wards of York, 2 Clifford Street, York, YO1 9RD no later than Tuesday, February 4, 2003. Usual Evening Press competition rules apply. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

100 years of service

Wards the florist in Clifford Street, York, was started by William Ward in Bishopthorpe Road in 1903.

Initially most of the produce sold was fruit and vegetables with a small amount of fresh flowers and plants.

After the First World War, the business was taken over by one of William Ward's sons, Francis Hardwick Ward, and daughter, Frances Helena Ward.

Before the start of the Second World War, Francis Ward decided to expand the business to its current premises in Clifford Street, leaving his sister to run the original shop in Bishopthorpe Road until she died in 1958.

At the end of the Second World War, flowers were purchased from Covent Garden Market and delivered by rail in returnable wooden crates. Deliveries were made by carrier bike with funeral tributes tied into boxes and packed with tissue paper.

Today, flowers are delivered into the business from growers all over the world, depending on which country's growing season it currently is.

The business continued as fruit, veg and flowers until the introduction of VAT in the sixties when it became obvious that the flower sales were supporting the business, and so, FH Ward Florists came into being.

The current managing partner ,David Bough, who is also a Director of Interflora, has worked in the industry for 17 years and is now the fourth generation of his family to work in the business.

Updated: 10:22 Tuesday, January 07, 2003