Centre at St Paul's Winter Ball

Friday 17 November 2006

It sounds apocryphal but it's nonetheless true that someone really did say - at a meeting at St Paul's, opposing a decision  to hold a dance - that Christians don't have balls. The fact is they do, or rather St Paul's  has done for several years. Summer balls and winter balls. All kinds of balls at St Paul's . 

The church is a versatile space which is eminently suitable for all kinds of events. In recent weeks it has hosted a salsa party which attracted more than 100 people, a dance with a 16 piece band playing music from the 20s and 30s and an orchestral concert.  Preparations for the Centre's Winter Ball started on Thursday evening. For anyone thinking of hiring the church space for a similar event, the above photographs show what the space looked like during the setup phase.

This year's ball was part of the celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Centre by chopping St Paul's church in half. What better way to celebrate than by having a ball?  

Masters of Ceremonies Alisdair Cant and Adrian Reith (pictured left)  welcomed guests and started off the proceedings by auctioning a photograph of Michael Beckett, vicar of St Paul's, (far right) which raised a reassuring 80p. The main auction, held during a break in the dancing and consisting of prizes donated by local businesses through the efforts of the indefatigable Vera Schuster, raised more than £2,000 for the Centre.

Church warden John Thompson and wife Lesley were among the revellers as were Rachel and Mark Rigby. Rachel has recently  started cooking lunch at the Centre on Fridays and plans to be involved on a regular monthly basis.

Debbie Beckett, pictured right  with youngest son Richard Beckett in the left hand photograph, was one of the organisers of the ball.

The other organisers, Judy Reith and Jane Greshham pictured left, are former chairs of the Centre Management Group. Martin Evans (right) aka as "the Boss" is the current Management Group chair.

Guests had a choice of boeuf bourgignon cooked by Debbie Beckett or chicken in white wine cooked by Jane Gresham. The vegetarian option consisting of a goat's cheese tart was cooked by professional chef Denzil, pictured in the left hand photograph with Anna Beckett. Late arrivals at the ball included Mandy and David Farrer (right). Mandy runs the Centre's Todddler Group on Monday mornings. David supervised the recent refurbishment of the Centre's main kitchen and upstairs servery.