'Little Chapel in The Fen' - 'Full of love' (it was said)

Yesterday there was held the 127th annual Harvest Service at 'The Little Chapel in The Fen,' which is at the end of our Fen garden at River Bank, near Upware.

We had a 'full house' again and, without exception, all said that they had enjoyed themselves. One lady went so far (and she had come so far, too) as to say that she wouldn't miss the Service for anything because she always feels that the Chapel is 'full of love.' It was certainly full of people and I guess that our lady friend had noticed that we all love the Fens, that we all love the farming of the Fens, that we all love getting together, and that we all love giving thanks for a bountiful harvest, the bounty of which may be seen in my first picture, that of the Chapel and the display of produce which was given eventually to benefit the Burwell Day Centre (and delivered today).

The service was conducted by Mrs Helen Randall, of Upware, and she impressed with her very appropriate words and with her sincerity. Helen presently heads up 'Care Network Cambridgeshire,' a splendid voluntary organisation, and the offering (£225.00) was given for its support. Here is a link to it -

http://www.cambridgeshire.net/organisation/care-network-cambridgeshire/13078.aspx

Helen came with her husband, Steve, and both appear in the not-very-good picture below. The excuse of the photographer is that the light wasn't right. The sun was hot after the service, too.

Our regular organist is Mrs Shirley Randall, of Waterbeach, but Shirley has just had a hip replacement and wasn't able to perform. A very welcome stand-in (or sit-in) was Mr Brian Mizon, of Cambridge. Here is Brian preparing to tune up. He played beautifully.                                                                            

The old-fashioned hymns (from the Sankey & Moody books) were:

'Come, ye thankful people, come'

'We plough the fields and scatter'

'Bringing in the sheaves'

'Tell me the old, old story'

'Jesus bids us shine'

'When the roll is called up yonder'

The congregation sang with great gusto. The whole Service was recorded by Mr John Drewry, of Little Thetford. CDs or tapes are available on application.

A retiring collection was taken for the Chapel's upkeep. 'The Little Chapel in The Fen' has had a good year in that the interior has been re-decorated. All the work was organised by Mr Kim Sheldrick, of Swaffham Prior, and most of it was done by Mr Paul Brown, of Fordham. We are very grateful to both of them.

We need now to renovate the windows and it will be a fiddly and expensive job. No less than £301.00 appeared in the collection bucket towards this next project. The Trustees are very grateful for this superb start.

My last picture is of the car park. That and our yard were full as never before.