Annual Report

St Candida and Holy Cross
The year began with us starting to get to know Stephen our new Team Rector and Jane his wife, who joined us in March and who have quickly settled amongst us. It has been another busy year; apart from the usual weekly services there have been four weddings, a baptism and various extra services. One of these was choral evensong led by Laudemus! whom we were delighted to welcome.
Our concert season was again very successful with excellent young musicians playing very varied programmes and making use of our new, Hazel Thurston, Kawai piano, which has a lovely sound.

`George Somers` put in an appearance for his anniversary service and we learnt a little more about his descendants, from the Bermudan town crier. There was a memorable prayer for the sacrificial pig!

The theme of the flower festival was `music` and as usual the floral displays were of a very high standard. The festival concluded with a concert put on by local musicians and was a great success.
The fete followed a few weeks later and the rain held off until the end of the afternoon, so only the helpers got wet! But the clearing up had to be left until the tents dried out. It was yet another enjoyable occasion, and one where we are fortunate to have so much support from all around the village.
The local history exhibitions held in the hall were very interesting and we helped by providing some of the display boards and by stewarding.

Our Carol service was extremely well attended and we are grateful to the members of the occasional choir who have joined us for several services this year. We were very pleased to invite the playgroup to our crib service, which was great fun, and we hope to develop this link.

Throughout the year, members of the Guild of St Candida have kept the interior of the church clean and tidy, while outside, the Living Churchyard group were `Highly Commended` for their efforts, in this years competition.
The bell ringers have rung for every service, with a full team of eight, quite an achievement and they have hosted various visiting teams. They came second in the West Dorset striking competition and are always willing to help out with various jobs around the church. The PCC (and our many visitors) are most grateful to everyone who gives of their time.

We were all very sad that John Harrisson had to retire early due to ill health, the congregation contributed to his leaving presents and some were able to attend his special leaving service and wish him and Rosie well for the future.

The PCC have discussed ways to make fuller and more diverse use of the church building and to encourage more people to attend. We look forward to restarting services for healing and further co-operation with the playgroup.