The community at All Saints’ Church in Crewe has celebrated many milestones over the sixty years since the consecration of the new building in 1965.
In 2005, the church held a Needlework and Flower Festival from Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th June, to celebrate the church’s 40th birthday. This included a service led by Bishop Nigel of Stockport. Floral displays around the church represented the different seasons of the Christian calendar. The Rainbow Room had a wonderful display of needlework and embroidery. More displays and stalls were set up in the church hall, where refreshments were also available, and the back garden played host to a plant stall. With boards outside inviting people to come in, the event was a great success.
A new altar frontal was specially commissioned for the 40th anniversary. Agnes Monaghan and Revd Margaret Saville designed the frontal, which was formed from forty image squares embroidered by the more nimble-fingered members of the congregation, one square for each year. Helen Evans sewed the frontal together – a huge task. Those members of the congregation who (like myself) were not so handy with a needle and thread paid for the materials. The church still uses the altar frontal regularly as part of the seasonal textile changes supporting patterns of worship through the cycle of the church year.
Between 2009 and 2019, All Saints’ held the biennial ArtsFest on six occasions around its harvest weekend in early October. This event celebrated art and creativity in many different forms. The walls of the church were turned into an art gallery displaying pictures by local artists, with many paintings for sale. Three sides of the church housed craft stalls, while the fourth side became a music venue. Performers from local schools and writers’ groups, church members, musicians and local choirs provided entertainment from the time the doors opened each morning until they shut again each evening. In the church hall, people demonstrated different crafting skills in hands-on sessions on one side of the room, while a café occupied the other side, serving food and beverages all day. The event also featured the Harvest Festival service itself, where the congregation gave thanks for all God’s gifts – food, water, shelter, as well as the fruits of human creativity.
While All Saints’ doesn’t host such big events at present, the church still holds regular coffee mornings and afternoon teas to support charities like Macmillan’s. Some of these are themed, such as the WWII afternoon tea held in 2016 and the Rockabilly event in 2018. If you would like to come to the next one, look out for more details of All Saints’ upcoming social events its Facebook page and on this website.
All Saints’ next celebration is the 60th birthday service this weekend, on Sunday 2nd November with Bishop Julie. Do come and join us. Hope to see you there.
All Saints' Church 