Christmas Festival makes memories

THERE was both happiness and disappointment with the fourth Southlands Christmas Festival.
Aspects which pleased organisers Bob and Wyn Lawrence included
l Good Saturday morning attendances
l Two carol concerts given by Southlands Singers
l The number of exhibits on display, due in the main to the support of individuals and church-based groups
l The exhibits from St Chad's Church, St Clement's Church and local business M & K Butchers
l The popularity of the Christmas stall
l The fact that the Festival, intended to be an outreach event, also brought in £441.13 after deduction of catering expenses.
The main disappointment was the low attendances on all four afternoons.
This year’s theme was the A-Z of Christmas and many of our own members viewed the exhibition after Sunday morning service.
There were some minor hiccups, like the Brownie who demolished one of the displays – fortunately it was the Brownies' bed-end stockings display which a Brownie leader was able to salvage – and the Cookie tree collapsing on itself.
St Chad’s provided some bunting which comprised members’ memories of Christmas gifts.
Junior Club members made lanterns which were arranged on a big branch found by Christine Banham while out with her toddler son, Matthew.
The branch was too big to pull along the pavement so she dragged it along the middle of the road while pushing the buggy.
The Lantern tree was retained as part of the main decorations for Christmas and the large model sheep, provided by M & K Butchers as their "Lamb of God" exhibit, was kept back for use in the Messy Christmas Nativity.
Surplus Christmas baubles "reprieved" a year ago were the seed which grew into the Christmas stall. Gill Hagyard produced some of her Christmas puddings, her mother, Minnie, spent hours making some beautiful Christmas items, and a number of other people brought gifts along to ensure the stall was viable. It brought in £220.70.
Other monies included £143 from lunchtime snacks and refreshments, £82 from donations, £33 from programmes sales, £10.51 from the Remembrance tree and £8.75 for cookies at the FLAME Cookie Tree.

Note: This page updated on 1st January 2012.