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Scarecrow Festival 2016

Thank You Thank You Thank You

When The Friends of St Margaret’s first discussed the Scarecrow Festival, none of us saw the number of entries reaching the giddy heights of 73. I personally didn’t think it would reach double figures and would be an event that might take a year or two to become established. How wrong was I. Each day coming home from work it was joy to see the new ones arising and it clearly had people talking in the Village and afar about this event even making Jeremy Vine’s programme on Radio 2

The Friends would like to thank all those who took part either by making your own scarecrow, making a donation (£252 raised) either at the Queen’s Birthday Bash or in the shop, Wenda for her constant publicity on Facebook and the Parish Council for this special colour edition of the High Halstow Times. Plans are afoot for next years Festival so please watch this space for more details in the coming months

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Cake Festival 2016

A big thank you to all those who baked cakes for the second Cake festival on the 12th March in the Village Hall. Forty two entries were placed into eight categories. The three independent external judges viewed and stated the entries and commented again on the very good standard achieved. One cake was deemed to be so good a judge returned to purchase it

The judges results were as follows:

Six Cupcakes-
1 Helen Rose,
2 Andrea Walman,
3 Lewis Owen;
who also won the under-16 1 Prize

Coffee & Walnut Cake–
1 Jenny Thomas,
2 Joint Lesley Munday & Carol Cocup,
3 Hilda Woolmington

Fruit Cake –
1 Jenny Thomas,
2 Mrs Bushell,
3 Lesley Munday

Chocolate Cake –
1 June Collins,
2 Gary Thomas,
3 Liz Meredith

Bible Cake –
1 Margaret Mace (only one entry)

Novelty Cakes –
1 June Collins,
2 Helen Rose,
3 Michelle Jones

Madeira Cake –
1 Gary Thomas,
2 Margaret Mace,
3 Joint Carol Cocup & Fred Beringer

Lemon Drizzle Cake –
1 Crystal Wakefield,
2 Hilda Woolmington,
3 Gary Thomas

Refreshments were available to those who came to view the cakes and with the generosity of most cake makers who donated the full proceeds of their cake sale to the charity, the total raised after deduction of costs was £163.

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Christmas Tree Festival 2015

Once again the Village of High Halstow held its Annual Tree Festival for The Friends of St Margaret’s. Thanks to all the people who attended this Fourth Tree Festival in the Village. This is now a well established event for the community and once again proves to be a very popular with the lead up to Christmas. Many thanks to all the people who made this occasion a success, including all the groups and individuals who put trees in, Karman Dancers, Dramarama and the Choir for the entertainment. £200 was raised from this event.

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Newsletter July 2015

Following the recent Annual General Meeting the following was decided:

Committee Membership 2015/16

Chairman/Treasurer Gary Thomas
Parochial Parish Council June Collins, Di Welch
High Halstow Parish Council’s George Crozer, Lesley Munday
Other Representatives Fred Beringer, Wendy Brunt, Stephen Gwilt and Mike Meredith

The Committee also thanked the contribution for the previous year from Bob Prichard and wished him well for the future

Use of Funds

The members were informed that for 2014/15 a surplus of £1842.55 had been achieved and with brought forward balances there is now a balance of £4900.48 as at 31st March 2015. The accounts are with the auditors and once signed off these will be published on http://thefriendsofstmargarets.org.uk for all to see

A few years ago some lead was stolen from the church roof and temporary permission was granted for a different material to be used in order to prevent further damage to the building. In the long run though it will be necessary to replace with lead and as a result £4,000 will be invested as a contribution set a side for when that day arrives.

2015/16

The new committee will meet and look to continue to raise funds not only for the roof, but for items which will be identified following the Quinquennial Inspection to be carried out this year. Quinquennial inspections involve a thorough survey of all aspects of a building’s fabric and are intended to identify problems, which have developed since the last time it was inspected and to establish priorities for repair to ensure the preservation of the fabric.

The Christmas Tree Festival as well as the Cake Festival will be two of the events that will occur during the next financial year. Please watch this space for details of these and future events

How To Join

Although in the past we had accepted requests for people to pay an annual fee in one go, it was not clear enough to all that this was the case, so just to be clear you can pay as follows:

1 A monthly Standing Order
2 A one off Annual Fee

Forms are available on http://thefriendsofstmargarets.org.uk or from any Committee member

Thank you all for your continued support
Gary Thomas

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Cake Festival 2015

A big thank you to all those would be Mary Berry’s who baked cakes for the first Cake Festival on 1st March organised by the Friends of St Margaret’s Church. Forty nine entries were entered into seven categories. It seems no one was brave enough to enter their gateaux into the eighth category. The three external judges viewed and tasted the entries and commented on the very good standard achieved.

Their conclusion was
Six Cupcakes – 1st Francesca Goodman 2nd Margaret Mace 3rd June Collins

Victoria Sponge – 1st Elizabeth Meredith 2nd Crystal Wakefield 3rd Margaret Mace

Fruit Cake – 1st Jenny Thomas 2nd Lesley Munday 3rd Margaret Bufford

Chocolate Cake – 1st Gary Thomas 2nd Joan Hetherington 3rd Sue Batchelor

Bible Cake – 1st Margaret Mace 2nd Hilda Woolmington 3rd Sue Batchelor

Novelty Cake – 1st June Collins 2nd Margaret Mace 3rd Joan Hetherington

Celebration Cake – 1st Joan Hetherington 2nd June Collins

Ben and Stanley Bucknall jointly won Best Decorated Cupcake in one minute as they were the only entries prepared to have them judged. Other competitors ate their cake immediately.

Refreshments were available to those who came to view the cakes and with the generosity of most cake makers who donated the full proceeds of their cake sale to the charity, the total raised after deduction of costs was £177.90.

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Santa’s Visit 2014

Santa would like to thank all the people who helped make Santa’s Visit a special occasion again in High Halstow on Christmas Eve.

Special thanks to Stuart who was very brave in letting Joanne drive his car, (she liked it so much that we thought he would never see it again), Bradford’s garage for providing the petrol for the generator free of charge, and Bob and his staff in the Village shop who collected the presents on Santa’s behalf. All the helpers on the night deserve special thanks especially Wenda who somehow manages to still be on her feet at the end of the evening.

Many thanks to the people who came out with the refreshments that kept us all going. A total of £864 was raised this year, which included donations in the charity buckets. The money will go to the Friends of St Margaret’s Church.

See you next year – Santa.

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Christmas Tree Festival 2014

The Friends of St Margaret’s would like to thank all the people who attended the third Tree Festival in the Village. This is proving to be a very popular event as a lead up to Christmas. Many thanks to all the people who made this occasion a success, including all the groups and individuals who put trees in, Karman Dancers, Dramarama and the Choir for the entertainment. Just under £200 was raised from this event and is already planned for next year on December 12th 

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Christmas Tree Festival 2013

Over twenty decorated trees were in the hall representing all parts of village life both young and old. The artistic levels were fantastic and it was great to see people viewing the trees working out what the tree represented. Trees entered for the first time included the school, The Responders, Deangate Golf and Matt Crozer.

Thank you all to the groups, individuals, families and businesses for putting in a tree. Many thanks to Karmann Dancers, Dramarama and the Choir for performing on the day along with all of you who came to support this event. Just under £190 was raised for this event

To view the gallery of pictures please click here

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Jazz Festival 2013

Over £550 was raised from the event this year which was a terrific start to the fund raising for 2013.

The weather held off long enough to allow the performance to be played in the Rectory Garden which made it a great location for the event to be held.

Terrific performances from both Chris Irvine and Chris Buckwell entertained the audience and the refreshment area was kept steadily busy through the night

Many thanks to all the people who supported this event and again many thanks to both Chris’s who gave their time free of charge