Winkfield and Cranbourne Benefice, 25th Anniversary Celebrations

The weekend of March 19 - 21 saw a lovely time for all participants and an excellent demonstration of church and community spirit, at the Winkfield and Cranbourne Benefice, 25th Anniversary Celebrations.
On Saturday, March 20th 1985 the Parishes of Winkfield (two churches - St Mary's, Winkfield and St Martin's, Chavey Down) and Cranbourne (St Peter's church) were joined into one Benefice . On Saturday, March 20th 2010 the church community celebrated this quarter-century . The Reverend Catherine Blundell, Vicar of Winkfield and Cranbourne, had felt such a landmark was very much a cause for celebration .She set up a small committee to pull things together, firstly on March 20th/21st and again over June 11th to 13th 2010 .

* A Children's and Young People's Art Competition for ages 0 to 15 in three age groups brought in 325 entries!
* They came direct from church families and also via four local schools - St Mary's C of E Primary, Cranbourne Primary, Lambrook Haileybury and Licensed Victuallers' Junior School - to which many of the church families' children go
* The theme was 'What I look like now and what I'll look like in 25 years' time', with side-by-side portraits in any medium
* The entries were charming/funny/imaginative/striking/curious/and altogether wonderful
* They were judged by Jane O'Sullivan, Visual Arts and Outreach Officer, and Chantal Addley, Resident Community Artist, both from South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, who    were very impressed by the artists' work
* There were three overall winners and three who got a special mention, one of the latter being the youngest entrant, three-year-old Jessica
* All the entries were displayed at Carnation Hall

* The Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading, joined us for a lovely cream tea

* On Sunday, March 21st former Vicar, The Reverend Simon Baynes, preached at a service in each of the three churches
* A 'New Silver' holly bush in a silver-style pot was placed at each church as an anniversary marker and blessed
* Funding the March celebrations was partly through a Silver Coin Collection by the congregations plus generous donations from other well-wishers for hiring the Hall and some   display panels and from local supermarkets for help with the cream tea ingredients
* The events were by turns vibrant, fun and respectful and enjoyed by all participants
Rev Catherine Blundell said "The way the organising team performed was fantastic and I'm chuffed with it all.  This was the beginning of my outreach programme and we got out there to do something for church and community to have fun"
There will be further celebrations in June, principally a three-day flower festival and a Benefice Barbecue.