A resounding success, not only in raising funds but for the fellowship shared with everyone who participated and all our visitors. What a great way to begin our year of Centenary Celebrations, with a happy church and community event!

The theme for the event was ‘Beginnings’. The 24 main displays in and around the church depicted Genesis, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Advent, Christmas and New Year; a Wedding and a Christening; the Laying of the Church’s Foundation Stone; Music; Education; a New Life in Tenerife; Planning for a Walking Journey; and the crafts of Bread Making, Wool & Yarn Work and Ceramics (which was linked to our Peace Mural). The beautiful floral displays in the refreshment rooms enhanced the experience and the flower cup cakes and the picnic scene intrigued us all. We even had to stop some youngsters trying to eat the ‘cakes’, as they looked so real!

Planning had begun in earnest just after Christmas and went relatively smoothly during the build-up, with occasional spells of very hectic activity and consultations concerning the programme – which, thanks to John Butterworth’s skills, was printed in time. However, we hadn’t realised just how many flowers we’d be dealing with when they were all delivered late on the Sunday evening. Hanna James, our superb florist from ‘Another Bouquet’ in Fulwood, along with her mum and dad, arrived with vans full of flowers. Thankfully enough people were at church to help unload nearly £3,000 worth of blooms and greenery. The whole chancel was filled with flowers in buckets of all shapes and sizes. Every stem had to be cut and put into fresh water before anything else could happen (it’s called ‘conditioning’ for non-flower arrangers) and began on Monday morning. Our fingers were sore after a few hours of this and of dealing with very prickly roses too. Fortunately a number of our church members, as well as the arrangers, rolled up their sleeves and set to, completing the task by Tuesday evening.

Wednesday was the big day, when the arrangements began to take shape and we could begin to visualise how it would all look. Each arrangement was done by a different person or group, both from within our church and from outside. Accordingly we must thank members of Goosnargh St. Mary’s, North of Preston, Ribble Vale, Hutton with Longton and Bispham Flower Clubs, as well as friends from neighbouring Christ Church, Much Hoole Methodist, Emmanuel and St. Michael’s, Hoole for all their help, advice and support in creating such wonderful displays, as well as Chris Hoban, a past member of our church, who came all the way from Tenerife to join in. The Walled Garden Group, based at Worden Park, Leyland, which works with young adults who have learning disabilities, built a colourful allotment display and although Sharlotte’s display in chocolate was damaged in transit, it still looked good and tasted even better!

There was a dedicated team making over sixty arrangements to hang from the ends of pews, in memory or in celebration of church family members. Their leader, Dorothy Prescott, spent a lot of time on her little milking stool, sitting in the aisles and adjusting these arrangements in situ, but at least it saved her back.

The whole place was a great hive of activity from early morning to late at night, with a large number of behind-the-scenes helpers keeping us fed and watered as we soaked ‘oasis’, built structures, shifted bricks, trimmed stems, bunched spare flowers ready for sale on the Friday and persuaded unruly stems to go where we wanted them to go, all in the unexpected heatwave. By Thursday night we could admire the finished displays absolutely at their prime, and enjoy the peace and beauty of it all. The Pentecost Dove was finally positioned high above the fiery flames – dripping water on them but, fortunately, not extinguishing them.

Early Friday morning and the sprayers and waterers were already busy on their daily task of keeping the flowers fresh. Craft Fair stall holders began to arrive: some were our ‘regulars’, plus a number of newcomers – who were very impressed with our redesigned building and the welcome they received. Thank goodness all was ready well ahead of the scheduled 10:30 am starting time: visitors began arriving half an hour early! The Mayor of Preston, Councillor Roberta (Bobby) Cartwright officially opened our Festival and she wore a lovely big hat to complement the photo of the original stone-laying ceremony in 1911. This is affectionately known as ‘The Photo of the Ladies in the Big Hats’.

Many visitors were locals but a number came from farther afield, having seen adverts. on various websites, or in a specialist magazine, or even by meeting church members whilst they were on holiday in Norfolk!

‘Music for a Summer Evening’ on Friday was a great success. Three different singing groups royally entertained in very different styles, and a great time was had by all. They were: St. Michael’s Church Choir from Kirkham, Pastorale from West Derby, Liverpool, and B Natural from the Blackburn area. The conductors of these groups had recently undertaken (and passed) a course in choral directing, arranged by Mavis Fletcher of our church, and gave their services freely for this event. We thank them for that and hope to book them for future concerts at Fulwood, so that those who enjoyed them and those who, unfortunately, missed the concert will have another opportunity to hear them in the future.

Saturday brought the remaining stall holders for the rest of the weekend and many visitors commented positively on the range and the quality of the crafts on sale. The atmosphere really ‘buzzed’ with a very large number of visitors and a very busy, efficiently run kitchen. We also had a lively visit from Leyland Morris Men, who danced inside owing to the poor weather, and some of us were encouraged to join in too.

Sunday morning’s service was a very moving time, sitting and listening and singing with the still-beautiful fresh flowers all around us. There were even more visitors that afternoon, welcomed with a laugh and smile at the open door by two of our senior ladies, Marjorie Fooks and Joyce Benn, suitably wrapped in blankets against the awful weather.

Some of us felt we’d almost lived at church all week – and some actually did do just that, to help maintain the security of the building. Our sincere thanks to Nick and his dog, Richard, Ray and Nigel for sleeping over at church on different nights.

Monday was dismantling and distribution day. It was quite sad to see the displays come down and be broken up into manageable sizes, ready to be taken out to the lucky winners of the Silent Auction, the Programme Draw and to various care homes, day centres and sheltered housing communities in the area.

All in all it was a very successful and worthwhile project to undertake and to be a part of. We have raised £4,720 so far, with more to come from the sale of DVDs. Please also look out for, and buy, the 2012 calendar which features the event; available soon!

Click HERE to order a DVD or Calendar

Our Centenary Year has begun with a magnificent ‘Beginnings’, so let’s continue the excellent teamwork and make all the other special events of this year as big a success.

Thanks from us both to everyone who helped in any way at all.

Veronica Frost & Janice Astley

N.B. Our Annual Craft Fair will be held on Saturday, October 15^th, from 10:30 am to 3 pm. Many of the same craftspeople, plus some of the regulars who missed this event, will be in attendance. Please come along and support them.