During one of our Saturday morning work parties, where we try hard to mow all the surrounding grounds of the church but fail every time due to lack of volunteers, those of us working hard had a welcome break when a troop of Scouts arrived for a breather on their walk from Vange to Benfleet.

Laying down our mowers and strimmers we guided the group into the church and explained some of the history and then let them take the challenge of climbing the bell tower narrow winding staircase to reach and see the three ancient bells. This took sometime as they could only go up in twos and threes but everyone made it and were in awe at the inside of the wooden spire and the size and weights of the bells.

The group leaders were delighted that they had arrived whilst the church was open and said it will help the scouts achieve their local history badges. Photos were taken by the leaders and links to their Facebook page was shared to our church page.

All the children were very well behaved and it was a real pleasure to see them all.

Mark Couch - Church Warden.