THERE was a day of celebration and thanksgiving last Sunday at St John's parish church.

The event is likely to go down as one of the most important in recent times in the Bromsgrove church's long history.

A congregation of some 300 people gathered for a service conducted by the Bishop of Worcester to mark the official end of the highly successful two-year St John's Landmark Appeal.

The appeal was launched on February 9, 2003, at a service conducted by the bishop, the Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby. It aimed to raise £500,000 to repair the church's crumbling fabric and restore the organ.

Subsequently it was found further restoration was needed and the figure was raised to £1m.

The appeal, which from day one was supported by the Advertiser/Messenger, was enthusiastically backed by the congregation, friends of St John's and the local community who raised a staggering £300,087.

An English Heritage grant has boosted that figure to £542, 087.

In his sermon, the bishop spoke of the bravery and courage of those involved in taking on such an awesome fundraising task.

He added that although the appeal has officially ended, the Christian story and its relevance to people's daily lives at St John's continues.

The vicar, the Rev Nigel Marns, told the congregation this day will be long remembered as the day they had accomplished the challenge they had taken on two years before.

He paid tribute to appeal chairman David Slade and other key figures who had worked tirelessly to achieve their goal. He also thanked the thousands of people who had contributed to the appeal in many and varied ways.

Later Mr Marns commented that due to people's generosity he believed now that the majority of the most pressing and most important restoration work needed to be undertaken on the organ, roof, tower and spire was achievable.

There is, he went on, still further work to do to other roofs and stonework around the church, which will be tackled in the future

Mr Slade, looking back over the duration of the appeal, said he had been greatly impressed by the pride, enthusiasm and sense of enjoyment many had got from participating in the fundraising drive.

Following the service, at a buffet in the church, he and the bishop cut a superb iced celebration cake baked by Beatrice Lodge, from Lowes Hill, Bromsgrove.

Last Saturday evening, 170 guests enjoyed an end of appeal dinner dance at South Bromsgrove High School at which a grand raffle raised a further £3,000.

pete.lammas@midlands.

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