Flowers bring in new faces

MORE than 150 people attended a flower festival at St John the Baptist Church in Kidmore End on Saturday.

The event raised more than £1,300 for improvement work at the 170-year-old building.

As well as floral displays arranged by the church’s “flower ladies” there was a plant sale, tea and cake and a raffle.

Church warden Nick Room said: “This highly successful event brought many from the wider community together. We saw so many new faces interested in the beautiful church and churchyard flowers, which looked simply splendid in the summer sunshine.”

The parochial church council has applied for planning permission to build a small extension for a toilet and storage space, create a small servery, rewire the building and install new heating and lighting that is more energy efficient.

The church is looking to raise £600,000 for the work and has planned further fund-raising events including two mid-afternoon concerts on Sunday and 30 and a patronal evensong on June 23.