Last October the North Petherton Civic Service was held at St Peter’s Church, North Newton to celebrate the lives of some the town’s residents.

The Mayor Cllr Alan Bradford wrote at the time the following description of the event:

The theme of the service was: For Queen, Country and Community. The church was beautifully decorated by a team of flower arrangers who pulled out all the stops on this special occasion. The Queen was their theme with each of the four windowsills of the Church decorated to represent an aspect of her life. One was dedicated to her love of horses, another to her royal regalia, one to her own style of fashion and her love of all things Scottish. The Church was full of flowers and all the arrangements were fantastic.

The Civic Dignitaries were led by Mrs Jane Barrie, OBE DL, representing Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Somerset, visiting Mayors and Mayoresses, local Town Councillors and 122 invited guests, together with regular worshippers. The service was led by Revd. Phil with Revd. Eleanor and I am grateful to them both for the help they gave me in preparing for the service. The formal unveiling of St Peter’s choir comprising of members of the PCC and other local faces, was delightful and Gareth Malone can eat his heart out! Thanks also to the two organists, James Crocker and Jerry King, and also to Sarah King for the processional trumpet performances.

An important part of the service was the presentation by Mrs Barrie of Alfred Jewel Awards for voluntary public service to the community. Sue and Gordon Stone of North Newton received one for their service to St Peter’s Church, Carol Pearson for her dedication over a number of years to Café Connect, North Petherton, to Jim Baker of Moorland for helping those in desperate need during the flooding of 2014, to Graham and Margaret Marson of North Petherton for their involvement for over 20 years with the Pentathlon Carnival Club and other local groups, and Keith Lowe of North Newton for his long service to the Newt Festival. The Mayor’s Award for Young People was this year presented to Josh Cook of North Petherton for his dedication to helping youngsters in the area become involved in sport, particularly cricket.

Following the service, invited guests attended the Mayor’s Lunch at North Newton Village Hall and the worry about being able to fit everyone in for a sit down meal faded away as we enjoyed a lunch prepared by Fiona Walker and her band of helpers. I must thank the Village Hall Committee and in particular Lorna and Roger Sellick for their help. Finally, I have to thank Janet who helped me organize the day. She is a real Jewel!

It was a great village occasion with so many North Newtonians contributing to its success.