OK, so it was technically Pentecost Eve, but who's counting?

Wow, what a wonderful day we had and if the numbers attending were lower then we might have dreamed of, they were still excellent and people really appreciated the free and almost free afternoon for all the family.  A good number of folk from our Lunch Club came along, some children from our Games Club and lots of little ones I know by sight from being a school governor... as well as a load of folk I'd never seen before.  EXCELLENT!

At 9 a.m. we began the process of transforming the school field into an all age 'playground', erecting the gazebos and tents that would house attractions.  Methodist Derek and I got it down to a fine art with our best time at under 5 minutes from opening the box and pegging in place.  Kathryn and I had fun building the giant Connect 4 game - which came with no instructions but within ten minutes it was ready for action.

"We shall not, we shall not be sued..." As I walked round with all the disclaimer signs for the car park, bouncy castle and school adventure play equipment, I was told I looked like I was setting off for a protest march.  It is a sad state of affairs when you have to erect such notices - but we had a school and three congregations to consider as well as those who would come along for a fun afternoon.  In a mischievous moment we did wonder if we ought to add a note to say we'd do a special offer on funerals for anyone who killed themselves, but decided it might not be appropriate!  Thankfully the afternoon passed off with no injuries at all, so maybe my singing as I walked around planting signs was prophetic?!

At 1:30 the party began and we had a steady stream of people from then on.  I painted faces continuously for three hours and was the last stall to finish bang on 4:30 when we closed.  The pocket money stall selling junk left over from past events did a steady trade and made about £20 selling stuff for as little as 5p a go.  Decorating pots and potting plants went well with 40 people having a go - and the remaining plants sold of at 4:15 to raise another £10 or so.  Kiddies crafts produced a veritable gardenful of bees, butterflies, caterpillars and ladybirds - and the children who had made them were delighted to show them off to anyone who'd look.  The £30 raised will go to support the work of our local children's hospice.

For those a little older, the Fairtrade stall took over £100, several had a go at card making and pretty well everyone enjoyed a free cream tea.

At 4:30 we packed away giant jenga, badminton, a model railway display, a collection of historical photographs... and a whole heap of leftovers that found their way back to my house 'for next time.'  By soon after 5:30 there was nothing left to suggest we'd been there - except the bunting on the school fence which I have to remove today. 

This afternoon with more blazing sunshine we will praising God al fresco - and hoping that maybe a few folk from yesterday will come and join us.  Having spent the morning washing paint brushes, sorting out left over items and discovering under the junk that I do have a kitchen floor (I will get my dining room back sometime during the week!) I have had some time to reflect on the wonder that the small team we have who are willing to work on these events have once again done such an amazing job.  About 25 people in total were involved in making it happen - and we probably saw 200 guests.  FANTASTIC!

And there was even a minor miracle.... the Methodist minister bought me an ice-cream (with sauce and nuts, it came in a plastic tub with a spoon) at about 3p.m.  When I finally stopped painting faces at 4:30 and had a chance to eat it, it had not melted - unlike my black face paint which had degenerated into a right sticky mess.

I guess I'd like to think that the whole event could be both a gift to our community and an offering to God.  May the works of our arms and legs, the laughter from our mouths and the love from our hearts be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer.