East Garston

As you may well remember, Palm Sunday 2007 took place in glorious sunshine, this year however, the the elements were not so obliging. Rain was the order of the day. The Procession of Palms at East Garston Church, which preceded the Palm Sunday service, did not go exactly as planned, but nevertheless the journey made by Jesus riding into Jerusalem was still re-enacted. The Revd Tony Cumberlidge, who conducted the service, blessed the Palm Crosses before the walk along the approach to the Church began. The congregation followed with their palm branches, some of which were laid along the path upon which the donkey would walk.

Unfortunately, the donkey that should have been involved was not able to come to East Garston. However a substitute donkey, named George, from the paddock next to the Church was cajoled into helping out. George is a very young rescue donkey, very nervous and rather wild. With the help of carrots, pony pellets and polo mints, he was urged to come to our rescue! Though George refused to cooperate fully, as Revd Cumberlidge explained in his address, in our own symbolic way, we had recreated the journey that Jesus had undertaken into Jerusalem, when he was cheered by the crowds, even though he knew that shortly they would turn against him and he would be crucified. We are very grateful to Nicky Henton for allowing us to include little George in the parade of the palms here at All Saints' church.

The Easter Garden

It was the suggestion made by the Revd Tony Cumberlidge in 2007 that an outdoor Easter Garden might be an interesting alternative to one inside the church, that prompted East Garston to think of a rather larger scale Easter Garden. During Lent, parishioners began to warm to the idea and three adults offered their practical services, working alongside the churchwarden together with children and young people of the parish. In the event, the weather was so appalling on Easter Saturday morning – snow, rain and howling wind, that we had to suggest to the children and other adults who kindly came to help, that it would be better to go home and keep warm. Meanwhile the original volunteers, Danny O’Neill, David Kelly and Martyn Wright, ploughed on.

The project became yet another example of a different group of people coming together to achieve a magnificent result. Danny, David and Martyn supplied and transported wood, earth, turf, undergrowth, chicken wire and several barrow loads of sarsen stones, in order to construct the garden. Joan Jefferys and Mary Lane brought flowers and greenery for the planting of Gethsemane, in the afternoon by the churchwarden. Various people came by during Saturday, intrigued by what was going on. Others came at this special time in the Church’s calendar, to tend family graves and place flowers.

The Revd Tony Cumberlidge was on hand, giving support and encouragement and taking obvious pleasure in seeing his germ of an idea take form and significance. One little girl – David Kelly’s daughter Sania, came at midday and insisted on staying to help. As the children were unable to assist in building the garden, Tony Cumberlidge decided that after the service on Easter Sunday morning, the children could lay posies in the garden either in Gethsemane or on the hill of Calvary, as their contribution. Sania made 20 posies with the churchwarden for this purpose, which were laid in church on Palm leaves at the base of the font.

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Some 50 adults and children came to church on Easter Sunday Morning. At the beginning of the service Tony Cumberlidge blessed the Easter Garden, asked the congregation to think about the significance of it and then blessed the posies which at the end of the service, the children placed in the garden.
The garden seems to have attracted a great deal of attention – quite a few people came to see it after the service and during the following week. Thank you everyone who helped in any way on this project: the unexpected impact that it had on all who saw it, was very pleasing.

Photos: Sally and Martyn Wright
Text : Sally Wright