2006 was an important year for St Stephen's Church - it was the 130th anniversary of our foundation, and we held a series of events to help us celebrate our special year! Some of the events were specifically planned with our anniversary in mind, and others were part of our normal church programme.

FEBRUARY
The first special event of our 130th anniversary year was timed for the weekend closest to Valentine's Day, and took place at 1pm - 4pm on Saturday 11 February, at the Church. Read a report on this event by PCC Member Ray Pearson, our on-the-spot reporter!

APRIL
Our next events were held a week before Easter - a Family Social/Disco on the Saturday evening, and our Palm Sunday celebration the following morning. Click here for a summary of these events from another on-the-spot PCC Member, Steve Gurr.

MAY
Although not planned specifically as an event to celebrate our 130 th Anniversary Year, we felt it important that the Licensing of our new vicar, Robin Forrester, be included in our journal for the year. A detailed description of the evening was compiled by PCC members Bill Allen and Steve Gurr (to quote the Beatles: ‘…. with a little help from our friends’!).

JULY
St Stephen's had a strong presence at the village Crow Fair on the playing fields on 15 July - there was a good turn out, in spite of the event coinciding with others nearby, and the weather was perfect. Our contribution centred around two large frame tents and we had help from many members of our church family - sincere thanks must be expressed to Steve Gurr and his colleagues in the PCC for their organisation of our contribution. Bill Allen did his best to capture the flavour of the afternoon with a few photographs and a short description of the highlights.

OCTOBER
Thanks have been given for successful harvests since pagan times, and the tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches began in the mid-1800s in Cornwall. People traditionally bring food from home which is later distributed to the poor and to senior citizens in the local community. We invite you to share the experiences of our Harvest Festival during our Anniversary year.

DECEMBER
On Friday 1 December at 7pm we held a musical event in Church - a Condate Singers Concert in honour of the church's 130th Anniversary. Tickets were available at only £3 and we had an attendance of 95. The musical programme was very varied, and everyone had a great time.

JANUARY 2007
On Tuesday 16 January 2007, we held a Major Christian Service to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the first service held at St Stephen's.