THIS is the first jigsaw festival that I have heard of in a
church, and it seems to have been very successful, drawing in more
than 500 people.
During the year, members of the congregation of St Martin's,
Brighouse, in Wakefield diocese, had completed
more than 600 jigsaws (someone calculated that that meant 475,000
pieces), and somehow kept them together so that they could be
displayed for sale - 200 at a time - on tables up and down the
nave. As soon as one was sold, it was replaced, and by the end of
the festival 370 had gone. There were several other stalls, and an
activity tent for the children. Hot and cold food was served
throughout the four-day event.
The money raised is being shared with a children's hospice. The
Vicar, the Revd Stephen Spencer, was delighted that the festival
attracted so many people from the local community. It was all part
of the ten-day Brighouse Arts Festival, which included an
ecumenical thanksgiving service, a family concert, an organ recital
by Simon Johnson, organist of St Paul's Cathedral, and the first
concert in a tour of the "Classic Churches of Yorkshire" by the
Masterworks Chorale.