St James
AT THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY
St James Church & Community Fete
For more pictures of the Church and community Fete please go to our photo gallery Saturday 12th June turned out to be perfect weather for the Fete…..we were once again very lucky, particularly as there were frequent heavy rain showers during Saturday night and Sunday!!
Alex Newbound, 11yrs old, was this years Fete Queen and she was supported by her two Attendants, Amelia Hodgson, 9, and Olivia Gott 8. Alex looked beautiful in her ivory dress, as did Amelia and Olivia in their matching purple dresses. They were all very excited as they were paraded around Wetherby in the open-topped Aston Martin DB8 – very posh.
Alex was crowned Fete Queen by Kristina Grimes who was runner-up in the 2007 BBC series of The Apprentice – Kristina gave a short insight as to the real Sir Alan Sugar – an extremely impressive and successful businessman who, on camera, appears very clinical in his decisions - however Kristina let us into a secret, his chair was up on bricks to make him look taller and more dominating!! Also she said he was a real “softy” off-camera and very easy going, friendly and helpful to all the contestants. A £50 donation was made to Kristina and, at her request, this was donated to St Michael's Hospice, Harrogate.
Entertainment was provided by Uncle Mal, our “resident” magician; Jamboree Puppet Power; and also a varied repertoire of music by St James 3:16 Worship Band. If only Simon Cowell knew of the musical talent at St James, with 3:16, the Gospel Choir, the Music Group and, not forgetting the Church Choir!!! We are very fortunate at St James to have such a range of music to suit all tastes – long may it continue.
This year there were about 24 stalls covering a wide range of local charities and organizations as well as church groups and all reported a good steady flow of trade.
The Mothers Union had another busy day serving coffees, teas, cakes and sandwiches and outside David & Barbara Brown and Clive Jordan were busy looking after the BBQ.
The programme was held together and kept on time by our Master of Ceremonies, Les Ratcliffe, who also provided the PA systems. Les is a true Wetherby community character and we are very appreciative that he gives us his time, without seeking reward, in support of the Fete – the drawing of the Raffle is fun entertainment in itself – especially when you get Robert, Mal and Les together!!
Our thanks go to the many helpers “behind the scenes” in the run up to the Fete, as well as those who helped on the day and cleared up afterwards…….also to Debbie in the office for the photocopying etc etc and the many “begging” letters which brought in valued donations from many local businesses.
Alan Donaldson, our Treasurer on the day, reports that he has been able to bank £1750 into St James Church funds….we are also very pleased the church has been able to provide the opportunity through the Fete to many local charities and groups to raise their own valuable funds …we would anticipate a further £1500-£2000 would have been raised by these organizations.
And finally, thank you to everyone who visited the Fete and helped to make it, once again, a really enjoyable community event.
Simon & Jan
MacMillan Cancer CareThank you to everyone who gave their time and kind donations for the stall on Saturday and £147 was raised for MacMillan. Friends of Wetherby Parish Church Music
Thank you from the committee of The Friends of Wetherby Parish Church Music to all of you who donated bottles and to those who bought tickets for our BottleBola at the Church Fete. With the sale of the books and the raffle, in addition to our contribution to the stalls, over £25 was raised to help support the music and musicians in our church.