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