“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.
Anna's Place is for older adults, and people with dementia and their carers. They do puzzles, play board games, or just chat with one another. It's from 10.30 a.m. - 2 p.m. in Christ Church hall. This Tuesday we had 23 people stay for lunch. It's great to hear all the conversation and laughter among people who didn't know each other when we started this project a year ago. They look forward to a lunch of home-made soup and fresh bread. Today there was home-made bread pudding and custard for dessert. There's always fresh coffee, tea and biscuits on arrival and after lunch, so everyone goes home quite full up! We also have little a programme of events which includes an art teacher who will be coming during half-term, a florist who will show us how to make Easter table decorations to take home, and a speaker from a care company who has a concern to help older people avoid being scammed by telephone calls, emails or doorstep scammers.
