Village Voice by Rosie Warrillow, 18th October

Last Sunday the congregation of St Andrews Church, along with a few visitors celebrated the harvest tide in style. The Harvest Communion service was led by Rev Matt Rowland and the church choir was very much part of proceedings as they sang the Psalm. The usual favouite hymns were sung and enjoyed by the gathering; Come ye thankful people come, and We plough the fields and scatter, were just two of those enjoyed. Rev Matt started the service with an innovative display which involved members of the congregation holding up flags of different nations and everyone had to guess which greeting in different languages matched which flag – eventually all were matched and the younger members of the congregation left for their group activity.         Communion was distributed with bread made by a member of the congregation being used instead of the usual wafers. The congregation went on to enjoy a bring and share lunch, and a lovely display of Harvest goodies were enjoyed. The Harvest Food collection will be distributed between the Shekinah Mission and local Foodbanks. The church looked beautiful, as local ladies had decorated it with flowers and seasonal fruit.                                                

The Arts Trail is now well underway with six artists displaying their work around the village. In the Fishermans Rest lower bar you’ll find the work of four artists, Jane Parrish’s beautiful Landscapes and Seascapes are definitely not to be missed, she also has produced some miniature books, again intriguing and so lovely. Well-known local artist John Ashton has some more of his outstanding wildlife paintings of the beautiful wildfowl on our river estuary. Kim Watkins makes a welcome return making her beautiful pictures using re-cyled paper and card, quirky and very original! Sarah Harcus is displaying her beautiful work in landscapes using acrylics with oil pastels; all of these lovely people are so worth going to see. Claire Williams’ Art Space gallery is acting host to two further artists, Sarah Litchfield who works in enamels and pewter, and copper with works based on geology, flora and fauna. Visiting artist Maggie Smith will be talking about and signing her new book, Through the Artists Window and explaining more about her own work. Claire will also be talking about her own technique, documenting the local landscape through varied visual languages, and she will also talk about her technique in finishing unfinished work. There’s a lot happening at this small gallery, don’t miss it!!.            

There seems to be a stray cat wondering round the village, it’s a tortoishell and has been seen at Pulleys Close, she’s thin but otherwise ok, there’s a picture of her on the village facebook page.           

St Andrews has a Songs of Praise service to remember lost loved ones. The service starts at 11am and there will be refreshments served afterwards, everyone is welcome to come and join in.