The church charity stall usually sets up shop twice a year in Aylsham Market Place to sell bric-a-brac and produce kindly donated by Tuttington residents. The money raised by these events – usually amounting to £150-£200 – helps to cover the running costs and repairs for the church building.
But, this year things were different. Heavy rain enforced cancellation of the Aylsham stall so the canny volunteers decided to set up shop in the church porch instead. They put out a sign to attract passers-by and waited for customers. After a successful first day, the shop in the porch remained open for the rest of the week culminating in a postponed Aylsham set-up on Saturday.
The ‘open-door’ policy meant that many more people stopped off in the village and visited the church than usual. This demonstrates the importance of this venerable old building as a community focal point and meeting place, as well as a place of worship. This was greatly helped by its location in the centre of the village and on one of the main thoroughfares. With lots more cyclists and walkers about these days, no doubt further plans to attract visitors and residents are in the offing.
So how much was raised you might ask? Well, just a meagre £430.50! This included a very kind donation of £100 from an anonymous donor.
That was not all because on top of that total, Jenny raised a further £105.50 in sales from her garage stall at Ship House selling her delicious preserves. Eager consumers will be pleased to learn that there will be more preserves after the strawberry season.
That brought the total to a stonking £536!
Thanks go to all those involved in the enterprise including the volunteers, the donors of items for sale, not forgetting, of course, the generous customers.
Look out for further notices on the church wall in the future.