2009 Flower Festival

St Andrew's Church in Redlingfield raised a record £1,015 with its three-day Spring Bank Holiday weekend flower festival celebrating its past and present.

The sun shone on the event organised by Chris Stanford, and flower arrangers from Redlingfield and surrounding towns and villages put on displays themed on Redlingfield ‘Then and Now'. St Andrew's Church was decorated with arrangements representing everything from old-fashioned farming methods to modern-day villagers.

The historical theme was carried out throughout the church with bygones, photographs and a display on the village and villagers during the First and Second World Wars. Click here to see copies of the posters remembering how both World Wars affected Redlingfield.

On Sunday The Fair Green String Quartet played selections from Mozart, Bach and Haydn in the afternoon and there was a special special Evensong in the church.

There were also plant and book stalls, refreshments and a tombola. Special thanks go to Hazel and Pauline Abbott for the refreshments, Eddie and Edith Coe for the tombola, the helpers who tidied the churchyard and David and Jacqueline Love.

The funds raised will go towards repairs to historic St Andrew's Church, which dates to before 1120 - when Redlingfield Priory was founded.

Flower arrangers and themes for their arrangements: Sheila Barret (Turkeys - Wash Farm); Lesley Murphy (Cows & Sheep - Hill Farm); David Streeter (Neighbourhood Watch); Pauline & Hazel Abbott (Redlingfield & Occold WI); Yvonne Wiley (The Naughty Prioress); Sue Chapman (The School); Jacqueline Love (The Coffee Caravan); Veronica Plowman (The Rev Stanley Stringer); Caroline Risk (The Nunnery); Beverley Abbott (Farming Then); Pip Florance (Village Gardens); Margaret Streeter (Remembrance Sunday); Dianne Maynard (The Summer Barbecue); Yvonne Wiley (Harvest Time); Christine Ross (The Blacksmith); Georgie Smith (Matrimony); David Streeter (The Benefactors); Pat Parfitt (St Andrew). Displays on WWI and WWII by Janet Norman-Philips and Mike Ager - they are also on display at the Red Feather Club in Horham.

Click for the display on Redlingfield during the First and Second World Wars.

Bygones from the blacksmith's forge kindly loaned for the display by Eddie and Edith Coe. Fair Green Quartet are: Annie Elffers, Violin I; Richard Ware, Violin, II; Sandra Holmes, Viola; Kate Hallam, Cello. Eddie and Edith Coe would also like to thank all who helped with the tombola - keeping it going for three days.