Friends of St. Barnabas Weekend Flower Festival was held on 10th and 11th June and what a weekend it was!! Beautiful weather, lots of people and a wonderful atmosphere.

On Sunday morning a service was held with the Bishop of Bradwell presiding and we extend most grateful thanks to him. It was also a great pleasure to welcome back The Reverend Dr. Laurie Blaney and The Reverend Michael Ryall both of whom were part of the service. Thank you both.

This Festival involves a tremendous amount of work and our special thanks goes to all the ladies and their beautiful floral arrangements making our Church an absolute picture – these are not only ladies from our village but from far and wide.

Grateful thanks to those involved in the organisation of the day, those who prepared the Church and it's grounds, refreshments (especially the bacon rolls!!), donations of homemade cakes and many others who did it lot to make this weekend a success. At the risk of missing somebody out we have not named each one personally but you will all know who you are- and so our sincere thanks.

We also appreciate the many people who contributed Raffle prizes – including All Seasons, The Chip Inn, Gorgeous, All Occasions, Hardy’s, Mayland PCC and many other individuals. Samurai Signs who redate our display boards each year. The Golden Platter Bakery for supplying all the rolls for the ‘bacon’.

There were many stall holders who sat out in the sun for the whole weekend. Also all our visitors sitting outside munching on their bacon rolls and homemade cakes.

Special thanks has to go to all those who made such generous donations which boosted up our total raised. After such a successful and enjoyable weekend the final figure was £1,552,00 which will go towards the new Church roof which hopefully will be carried out next year.

We work very hard in an effort to keep our beautiful Church on the Hill open which we all need from time to time for Baptisms,Marriages and Funerals and it is important that we get the support in order that it will remain open for the future generations. Please, we should love to welcome more of you to our services at 11a.m. on a Sunday morning.

The weekend ended with our Songs of Praise.

Lynda Poulter