The flowers -What an explosion of colour and delight was the recent flower festival in Geldeston church! From the porch, font, windowsills, pillars and altar, beautiful flowers and foliage were displayed, themed to all our favourite hymns. The arrangements were to a high standard and with great use of imagination what talent!. Local artists added to these with a sculpture and some paintings. Gillingham school made 7 themed tray gardens.

It was a joy to see the flowers picked out by the sun streaming through our recently restored windows.

A big thankyou to all who gave so generously of their time, creativity and effort to celebrate the continuing restoration of Geldeston church. 

Wine ‘n flowers- The Patronal festival started on Friday evening, the weather was gloriously warm and sunny. This provided the perfect back drop to the Wine ‘n flowers soirée at the church. Guests were able to view the colourful floral displays in the church, meet up with friends old and new whilst enjoying the live music outside provided by Skippy and the Roos, a brilliant saxophone quartet, which added greatly to the atmosphere. Delicious canapés were served to accompany the drinks, and a happy time.

Bat walk- All ages enjoyed the bat walk led by Richard Moores. Richard provided a very interesting and informative evening including some details on the life history of bats. The walk started at dusk from the War Memorial and then followed south down the bridle paths. The younger members of the group had the benefit of being able to hear bat calls un assisted, with bat detectors enabling the adults to hear. Soprano and common pipistrelle bats were ‘seen’ during the walk, more species would have been recorded if it the evening air had been slightly warmer. We hope to arrange a further walk next summer as the walk was oversubscribed. It will be advertised in Tidings.

Saturday’s Festival Events - What a line up! In the morning visitors to the flower festival were able to listen to the amazing Thurlton Gospel Singers, who filled the church with their wonderful singing for over an hour. 

By the afternoon, the fete was in full swing, with a crowd of families including many with young children. Besides being able to relax and enjoy the refreshments including yummy home made cakes, there were plenty of things to do and see, including local produce and plant stalls, treasure hunt, Robin’s famous ‘racing ’ferrets, a line up of Classic cars: 1940s Morrris commercial truck,1994 Landrover,1950 Ford V8 pilot,1931 American Ford v 8 convertible,1960 Alvis Speed 21, Triumph Gentry, DB9 Aston Martin. The fab raffle prizes included the chance to win a ride in an Aston Martin claimed at the end of the afternoon.

As the crowds swelled they were treated to music from the U3A Handbell ringers and U3A Madrigal Singers, which all added to the country feel of the fete.

All eyes were on the church tower watching the parachuting teddy bears, popular amongst young and old alike, with over 70 flights off the tower! The children mostly had made the parachutes. The bears completed a ‘health check’ before they summoned up the courage to jump– most drifted gently down, although one or two had to be rescued off the roof causing further excitement! Fortunately, there were no casualties, and the teddies were none the worse for wear so they could be awarded their flight certificate!

Jonathan Sayer provided a fascinating talk about Geldeston’s war heroes, giving an insight into the lives of the fallen. The tow manakins were dressed in WWI and early WWII uniforms complete with multi-purpose gas deterrent cape, billy cans, spade, shoe brush, ciggies and matches. Quite an eye opener and brought to home what those guys did for us: combat cannot have been easy.

On Sunday we were very pleased to welcome the Rt Rev. the Lord Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher to take our Patronal service and rededicate the restoration works completed to date and the church was looking beautiful. It was lovely that representatives of those involved in undertaking and funding the restoration works were able to be present together with other members of the congregation.

The festival was a very happy occasion, helped by all who contributed to the running, providing cakes, produce, and supporting the events taking place around the church. A huge thanks to everyone. The events raised a much needed £2600 towards the next phase of restoration works- fantastic!