St Andrew's Church 120th Anniversary and Flower Festival

St Andrew's, Dearnley and Smithy Bridge

The weekend of September 26 and 27 celebrates the St Andrew's Church, Dearnley 120th Anniversary with numerous special events, all built around a Flower Festival.

Revd Canon Sharon Jones said: “The promise of floral contributions from dozens of local organisations, public, private and corporate, as well as many individuals are a measure of the value and appreciation of the church among those it seeks to serve.

“The theme of the Festival is 'Community Spirit' and regular churchgoers at St Andrew's are being urged to invite people along who may not have worshipped at the church since childhood or, indeed, might have lived locally all their lives without ever setting foot inside the church.”

The Festival will be opened at 11.00am on Saturday, 26 September by Councillor Ashley Dearnley and Chief Inspector Chris Hill with the St Andrew's School choir and band in attendance. Tea and toast will be served.

At 3.00pm there will be a performance by the Wardle Junior Blast Brass Band with afternoon tea available in the parish room.

One of the biggest events of the weekend will start at 7.00pm that same evening with Wardle Anderson Band leading an Anniversary concert which will also recognise the service to our country by Queen Elizabeth, head of the Church of England and the longest reigning monarch in history. Bar and nibbles available.

The programme on Sunday, the 27th, will begin with a 9.30am Sung Eucharist with breakfast, followed by the planting of Anniversary flowers, an opportunity for everyone to buy and plant a daffodil bulb to celebrate the birthday of St Andrew's. Chris Ashton and Ray Milligan will be around all weekend to supervise.

At 3.00pm there will be afternoon tea and a performance by the Holy Trinity School choir from Littleborough.

The weekend will come to a close at 5.00pm with Evensong led by the Archdeacon of Rochdale, Cherry Vann and the Rev Canon Sharon Jones, this dropping the curtain on a full weekend of community spirit and worship.

This coming Sunday, September 13, we have our usual 9.30am Sung Eucharist. Parish rota: lay assistants, C Ashton, J Paterson; readers, R Milligan, S Walker; Intercessions, S Knight; sidespersons, P Paterson, D Knight; refreshments, Dennis, Pam, Judith.

We welcome Diane Newton, Reader at St Paul's, Norden, who is in training for ordained ministry. She will be with us until Christmas with a particular focus on encouraging our work with children and young people.