Festival Weekend

This weekend has been a combined celebration for St Luke's in Tiptree. Firstly, there has been a Flower Festival - including various musical interludes - for the past three days, and the building has been beautifully decorated with the most gorgeous arrangements made by several groups associated with the church and village. The display in my main picture was done by the Tiptree Priory Heath WI, and the spectacular arrangements in the Sanctuary (extra photos) were the work of the talented St Luke's Flower Ladies who make the church look lovely every week. You might notice that there's also a decorative loaf of bread, grapes and wine on the altar table, as we celebrated Harvest Festival this morning. This is especially important in Tiptree - not only is the village known for its famous Wilkin & Sons jam, but we are surrounded by many other farms growing lots of different crops. The food donations we gave will be used on the Colchester soup run for the homeless. Finally, this year marks the 160th anniversary of St Luke's being built and consecrated, so that milestone was also celebrated today and my other extra shows the clever floral tribute created by the Tiptree and District Flower Club which was in the church foyer. And as if all that wasn't enough, we also had a special Songs of Praise service this afternoon - definitely nourishing for the soul to have a good sing!