By MARGARET BROWN
Margaret Brown is one of The Resident’s longest standing contributors and has lived in the Algarve for more than 20 years. As well as Point of View, she also writes Country Matters twice a month.
SAINT VINCENT’S Anglican Church held one of its main fund raising events last Saturday at The Ocean Club in Luz. We were praying that the fine, if chilly, weather might continue but having seen a forecast of strong winds and rain, were grateful that adequate cover was available for the stands and side shows.
Entirely dependent upon volunteers to prepare and dismantle the annual sale, once again old hands turned to with a will augmented by several newcomers, all of whom did a magnificent job to launch the 14th in a long tradition of Christmas Fayres. Yes, the heavens opened and storms passed through but in the shelter of the Ocean Club all who came entered a different world. It was an Aladdin’s Cave of delights, the sense of mystery enhanced by a labyrinthine series of rooms. Some were suffused in a warm glow, others brightly illuminated to show a variety of jewellery, paintings and a very large display of home baking that drew folk like bees to a honey pot. Thirty stands in all offered first class goods. There was a tombola, a large selection of ‘white elephants’ and the ultimate draw, a steaming cauldron of hot punch and mince pies. Locum John Wilson was an archetypal Father Christmas, red nosed, rosy cheeked and amply proportioned. However, children were rather thin on the ground – an indication that old traditions are being allowed to die out.
A great many people came to look, to buy and to enjoy. That it was a Christian party with a Christian purpose will have registered with some who are not regular Church members and all of us will have been drawn a little nearer to loving our neighbours as ourselves. A clear profit of 4,000 euros was made, some of which will go toward Saint Vincent’s sponsorship of two Portuguese Students at Faro.
