“We thoroughly enjoyed the evening!” was said so many times as the guests left - far later than planned!  It’s always a measure of success if people don’t go home - we find that on Sundays too!  

It has been a while since a large event was held in the Church itself, and this was larger than usual with 90 guests seated for a Rotary Club of Billericay fund-raising event.  There was a 3 course dinner served at table by caterers from The Beauvoir Arms, Downham. The meal was excellent.

Entertainment was The Ladybirds, a local singing group who give up their time to entertain at charitable events. They didn’t disappoint and started off the evening with a real swing.

Guests were able to bring along their own antiques which Mark Stacey was able to approximately value and tell us a little about. We were captivated to hear about the different items and it could have gone on well into the night. However, time was ticking away and so Mark offered to speak to guests afterwards. 

The evening raised over £1,000 on the raffle alone, donations for which included food hampers, Champagne, and a large fruit basket. A final figure to be donated to Little Havens and St Luke’s Hospices, is yet to be announced. Well done to the organising team who worked so hard to make the event possible. 

By the end of the evening the Church was easily and quickly returned to its usual arrangement of rows of chairs, ready for the two Services the following morning. It was lovely to see the Church being used for such a worthwhile cause and to welcome so many people from the community into our buildings.