The first Sunday in July, in the church of St Mary the Virgin, a small army of women (and a few good men) set out to prepare the village church for a popular annual event. On this occasion the Bellringing Band joined in.
Outdoors near the main entrance, tables & chairs were unfolded and placed in the shade of gazebos for visitors.
Inside the cool church, the pews were removed and a tearoom started to take shape. Pretty table cloths with little vases of flowers appeared.
In the kitchen, pinnies were on and the water heaters were beginning to bubble… At the sink Our Tenor ringer, Mike was sporting the marigolds, there was the sound of china cups, saucers & tea plates clinking. Tea & coffee pots stood on the left, milk jugs on the right; scones were being buttered & jammed – all was ‘at the ready’, as were the waitresses!
Outside on the other side of the church other things were happening… 2 more of our ringers disguised as small gargoyles magically appeared smiling and waving from the top of the church bell tower! 👿😈
If you looked carefully you could see a strong wire was secured to the top of the tower and ran all the way down to the ground, and there on the grass was a small, red, fluffy chair. In it, sitting quietly was Lytchett Allsort (the bell ringers’ mascot) and he was smiling as if he was waiting for something to happen, or something to arrive….
People did started arriving but STILL he sat there…
UNTIL…..W.H..O…O….S…..H!
Speeding down the zip wire was something coming very fast towards him!
But no sooner had the bear been reclaimed by its owner, a gargoyle shouted “Clear the way!”
Another bear arrived!
And then, a green dinosaur!!
One after the other, strange creatures of all different shapes and sizes were riding on the Zip Wire.
A fluffy cake, then a well loved unicorn, a straw stuffed bear, a vintage bear, a fluffy sloth, a Paw Patrol dog, and to our surprise, even Lytchett Allsorts had a go too!
Now, if you’re wondering how these strange little creatures managed to climb to the top of the tower – they didn’t, they were safely fastened into a harness by our Tower Captain at ground level, inside the church. The harness was then clipped to a rope and slowly pulled up to the top of the tower by more bellringers.Then gargoyle at the top would clip the creature on to the zip wire and send them on their way.
By 4.30pm the bears were tired and taken home to bed, and the army of fundraisers and bellringers started to pack away all the equipment, and tidy up, leaving the church & grounds just as they were at the start of the day.
Had ALL that really happened in a day? Had there really been bears and gargoyles at St Mary’s? Well every child knows the answer, as every bear and creature that whizzed down the zip wire has a certificate to prove it!
