FOR the last eight years, the two churches in Delabole have united to share in a village Harvest Festival, which this year had two interesting aspects.

The congregations gathered at the Methodist Church on Sunday, September 18, for a service led by the Rev Bryan Ede and Mrs Sue Wilcox, with Helen Hicks on the organ and Stuart Biddick on the piano.

The service included a sketch entitled ‘Toast’, acted out by Vivienne Paul and Marie Shore, with Peggy Sandell reading the lesson.

The congregation heard about the work of St Peter’s School in Exeter, who have been conducting projects in the villages of Mtunthama and Chimbiya in Malawi through Rev Ede sharing a dialogue with his grandson, 16-year-old Oliver Hopkins, who had spent three weeks on a work project in the villages in July.

The theme was illustrated with some of Oliver’s photos shown through a Powerpoint presentation, and some of the effects from the area. The congregation were reminded that sharing makes a difference in the world.

The service was followed by a harvest lunch in the Methodist schoolroom, an innovation for this year, instead of the usual harvest supper evening.

The celebrations concluded on the Sunday evening with a harvest praise and reflection event, held at St John’s Church. The event was led by the Rev Angela Cooper with the aid of the St Teath Parish Church choir and their choirmaster, Alan Dawe, at the organ.

Various members of the churches contributed readings and poems to the special service, and the event concluded with refreshments.

The offerings at the services and the donations from the lunch amounted to £517 for the St Peter’s School Malawi Educational Trust, which will be spent for use in the villages they support.

Oliver quoted the words of one of the Muslim leaders in Mtunthama, who said that St Peter’s had made a real difference to their village over the past ten years.

All of the packet and canned goods from the harvest displays in each church were delivered to the Wadebridge Foodbank.