St Laurence Church, Guestling is holding its annual Flower Festival from Friday to Sunday August 16-18, between 10am and 5pm each day. The theme for this year’s event is “What the Dickens”. Lunches (including ploughman’s), tea, coffee and cakes will be available throughout the weekend, as well as produce and book stalls, and a tombola.
The event is free to enter, with ample parking, and all proceeds will go to the St Laurence Church Restoration Fund.
The church is looking forward to welcoming all exhibitors and visitors back to Guestling again for our annual flower festival, for what promises to be another spectacular year of floral displays. The Church is a Grade I listed building, and has been welcoming visitors here for more than 900 years, so it is fitting that this tradition is continued, and the monies raised from the flower festival are used to fund the ongoing restoration programme.
This year, St. Laurence Church welcomes Sheila Benson as the new Festival organiser, after 30 years of the invaluable stewardship of Rosemary Gainsbury. Sheila has organised many flower festivals over the years, but this is the start of what we hope will be a long association with St Laurence.
For her first festival at Guestling, Sheila has chosen “What the Dickens?” as this year’s theme, so the exhibits are sure to offer something for everyone. Speaking enthusiastically about this year’s festival, Sheila commented: “St Laurence Church has a great reputation for their flower festivals, and people come back every year from far and wide, so we would like to see this success continue.”
The event also sees the Reverend Joy Collins overseeing her first Flower Festival in charge, since the retirement of Reverend Robert Mulford earlier this year. Reverend Collins says she is relishing the challenge: “We are looking forward to seeing the Church full of vivid colours again from the eclectic and imaginative displays , as well as the incredible scent!
“On Sunday, we end the festival with a Songs of Praise service at 6pm, to which all are welcome, and it is lovely to hear the music surrounded by the amazing flowers. The flower festival, as well as our continuing focus on music throughout the year, ensure that local people and holiday visitors alike return time and again, confirming our intention of making St Laurence a very welcoming Church.”
The Festival concludes with a Songs of Praise service on Sunday at 6pm, to which everyone is welcome. The church is roughly half-way between Rye and Hastings, and is signposted from the A259.
Image Credits: St Laurence Church .