Friends News - September 2022
Since our first Newsletter of January 2022 the Friends Committee have been busy organizing a variety of events.
Flower Festival
Our launch, as a new Committee raising money for the restoration of the church, commences with a Flower Festival.
This begins with a preview on Friday 23rd September from 6.30pm – 8.30pm and is being opened by our Patron, Viscountess Downe, one of the Dawnay descendants of Beningbrough Hall. Wine and canapes will be served and tickets are available from any Committee member at a cost of £12.50. Those attending on the Friday evening may return over the following days free of charge.
The Flower Festival will run through the weekend of 24th and 25th September between 10am to 4pm concluding with a Benefice Harvest Evensong in the church at 4.30pm. Entry for the Saturday or Sunday is £5. Children under 18 free.
Following the sad loss of Gordon Atkinson, who had very kindly agreed to refreshments being served in the Old Vicarage garden, we are now planning refreshments in the Parish Hall. Gordon will be sadly missed by all Villagers and many will remember the annual Garden Party with stalls and fancy-dress competitions held for church funds in his and his late wife, Ishbel’s garden. More recently you may have seen him cycling by at a sedate pace, or crossing the road for his pint at the Blacksmiths. His sound words, common sense, love of sport, sailing and such up to date knowledge of current affairs will not be forgotten, not to mention his love of cake.
We are very grateful to the National Trust at Beningbrough Hall for their generous provision of a voucher for free admission to their gardens from 24 September to 2 October for anyone attending the Flower Festival. This enables a whole day out - by visiting the Flower Festival for £5, you can then move on to the beautiful gardens and grounds of Beningbrough Hall.
In addition, we have been well supported by villagers who have offered to grow flowers and contribute to the catering. We are so grateful to everyone and do thank you.
Some sponsors have been sought to help underpin the cost of the flowers and put us on a sounder footing with this event; we are extremely grateful to all of them and their names will be displayed in the church and Parish Hall.
Should you know of other possible sponsors, please let us know as given the hot summer, and lack of rain, we think we may have to purchase more flowers than we had planned.
Car parking is by kind permission of John and Alastair Jackson who are letting us use their grass field, entered to the right of the lodge gates; without this traffic in Newton would be almost impossible. We are very grateful to the Jacksons for this facility. We also plan to hold a plant and produce stall over the period of the Flower Festival. Any plants or produce for sale, would be gratefully received.
We have over twenty people involved in arranging flowers to the theme of ‘The Joy of Life’; and are so fortunate to have a renowned flower arranger and tutor guiding us - Janet Hayton from Skelton, a real gem.
We will also have background music over the festival. Pianists will play our grand piano; we are most appreciative of all involved. We therefore very much look forward to seeing you over the weekend, admiring what we are sure will be the most wonderful flower displays.
Volunteers Please
As well as produce, plants or cakes, we would be most appreciative of help over the flower festival; it will be a good opportunity for us to put faces to names and for us to become more than just a member of the Friends. We cannot cover this with such a small committee, numbers required to staff the church, car parking and refreshments in the Parish Hall are quite large. Assuming that people may wish to help for roughly a 2–3-hour slot, please state your preference for either Saturday or Sunday or both:
Parish Hall
08::00 - 10:00
10:00 - 12:00
12:00 - 1400
14:00 - 17:00
Car Park
09:30 - 12:00
12:00 - 14:00
14:00 - 16:30 or until empty
Please do volunteer, giving your availability, or what you may be able to bake or provide to one of the Committee or email friends@allsaintsnewton.org.uk
Spread the word!
Of course, the biggest help you can be to the Friends and this Flower Festival, as well as kindly offering your support and help, is to tell people about it … your friends, family, workplace colleagues, etc.
If you know of a means of advertising via a local Newsletter, web site, club or noticeboard, do please ask if the information could go out. Email us, or ask, if you would like a poster Alternatively, share the link to our website or download an A4 poster by clicking this link.
Easyfundraising
The other fund raiser we have put in place was to sign up to Easyfundraising.
To date, we have raised a few hundred pounds using this facility. What is remarkable is that it costs you nothing at all, so if you have not already done so, please do go to the web site and use it to make your purchases. Most large stores are signed up to this. For each purchase that is registered to your name, a small percentage is sent to us at no extra cost to you. It is amazing how simple it is to give something towards preserving the fabric of the Church without it costing you a penny.
Please click on this link to go directly to our Sign-up page for All Saints.
Speaker Programme
We have also been busy putting together a programme of particularly interesting speakers for our evening meetings which from October 2022 will be held on the first Thursday of the month; please note this change of evening.
The programme from October to December 2022 can be viewed by clicking this link.
For these, payment will be made on the door as you attend. In due course, we will be putting out a full calendar year programme to run from January 2023 in order to align with the financial year of the PCC.
Current Committee: Marion Blacker, Stephanie Howe, Mike Tranter, Barbara Watson and Sheila Ritchie.