Chrystalla Spire shares with us how the St Albans team organised an event to raise money for a borehole in the rural community of Miswa in Zambia.
“We found out about the Hands at Work Community Investment Projects during a (virtual) Hands’ Team Gathering in May this year. David Newsome from Hands at Work UK explained that teams were being asked to consider raising funds for one of the many community projects being undertaken by Hands at Work during 2021.
As a team we had remained informed of, and continued to pray for, the very many challenges being faced by Hands at Work and the communities during the pandemic. Fundraising for one of the projects seemed like a good opportunity for the St Albans team (made up of people from The Abbey and St Luke’s Church) to regroup, demonstrate our ongoing support, and raise awareness for Hands at Work.
A happy evening was spent selecting the project for which we would raise funds and coming up with an appropriate fundraising idea. Given we had chosen the Miswa borehole project, we felt a water-themed family afternoon in the summer (by which time we hoped the pandemic restrictions would be lifted) would be a good idea.
St Albans Cathedral very kindly gave permission for us to hold the event in the Deanery Garden on Saturday 24th July, so we were all set.
Plans got underway. We had Zoom meetings to discuss the format of the event and the games and activities we would have. In the build up to the event, we received a very generous donation of £200 from the St Albans Lions Club – a great start!
Following a week of cloudless skies and balmy temperatures, we awoke on the morning of 24th July to a sky full of rain-filled clouds. Luckily, we had set up gazebos the previous day (we had seen the weather forecast!), but we knew people wouldn’t turn up if it rained.
As we arrived at 10am to finish setting up it was raining, but as the morning drifted into the early afternoon the clouds disappeared. All that remained of the rain was droplets on the gazebos, as if to echo our water theme for the afternoon.
At 2pm people started to arrive. Adults and children participated in the games and activities, including stocks (with Cathedral clergy volunteering to be the ‘victims’), hook the duck, pin the borehole and more. We drank tea and ate cake, candy floss and popcorn. There was a lovely, happy atmosphere of a summer fete, almost forgotten from a pre-pandemic time!
