The church was packed for the opening. Our vicar, Philip, welcomed everybody and explained the symbolism of the Christmas Trees, and the reason for the the season, before offering a few words of prayer. Karen Wright (of Claire House) gave a vote of thanks, on behalf the Charities, to the sponsors. Then David Lonsdale officially opened the Festival with a count down to the switch on before kindly spending a lot of time looking at the trees and chatting with everyone afterwards.
Throughout the weekend excellent entertainment was provided by Farnborough Road Junior School Singers, Southport Youth Band, Greenbank Voices, Farnborough Road Infants, a variety of organists and representatives of church youth organisations. The Cafe and Market were also very busy so, as well as money for all the charities, nearly £3,000 was raised towards the running of the church.
Everyone who came, young and old, seemed to enjoy themselves. There really was something for everyone - from face painting and children's craft activities to a chance to pick up the odd Christmas present or just sit down for a cuppa and a chat.
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the week end such a success. We hope you will be able to come back to enjoy the trees again at one of our Christmas services.
Thank you also to Jim Wright for these photos.