West Hallam - 'Women Of The Bible'
w/e 30 April 2006
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

Methodist Church

West Hallam Methodist Church holds a Flower Festival every two years about this time of year. Each time the members of the church choose a different theme and charity to support and in 2004, the theme was 'Sounds Of Music'. Two years before that 'The Rainbow' theme led to several colourful flower displays and this weekend, they have once again excelled with a theme of 'Women Of The Bible'.
Eve, Lydia & Miriam

Appropriately the first display to greet visitors (above left) is entitled 'Eve', the first woman of the Bible and the second (top right) is 'Lydia'. Lydia was a merchant dealing in purple cloth and, hearing about Jesus she became a Christian welcoming Paul to stay with his Mission Team at her house. The pineapple was a sign of welcome and this display welcomes visitors to the church. Pineapples are still seen today on gateposts of houses across Europe. The third image above is 'Miriam' and is one of ten displays inside the main body of the church. Miriam was Moses' sister and she watched over him when he was hidden in the bulrushes.
Church Panorama

This is the panoramic view though that greets visitors on first entering the church with the seating arranged in a semi-circular fashion around the pulpit.

Deborah

Every corner of the church is filled with flower displays, this one depicting 'Deborah'. Over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus, the Israelites were led by Judges and Deborah is the only recorded female Judge.
Women At The Tomb

The largest display and the centrepiece of this year's Festival is called 'Women At The Tomb' and it not only shows the empty tomb but also the three crosses of Calvary.
A Triptych Quartet

Three more displays depict four more women of the Bible. From left to right they are Mary, the mother of Jesus; the sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, who had very different responses to the presence of Jesus; and Lot's wife who defied God's instruction not to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
Music For Salome

The Festival lasts three days from Saturday to Monday but the event was given a kick start on Friday evening with a concert of poems and musical items presented by the members of the church to a very appreciative audience. It is unfair to single out anyone in particular as a lot of hard work and planning by many people had gone into the Festival and there were a lot of back room staff, selling jams, marmalades, flowers and refreshments among other things but this lady, who had taken part in the Friday concert was on hand on Saturday morning to play music to further delight the steady stream of visitors. The flowers on the right of the picture are part of the 'Salome' display - Salome who danced for King Herod and asked for the head of John the Baptist. This year over £300 was raised by the concert and donated to Breakthrough Breast Cancer - it's perhaps fitting that 'Women Of The Bible' are helping the women of today.

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