Felmersham Millennium Celibrations

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Millennium Eve Celebrations
Over 200 parishioners gathered in front of the church tower to see in the New Millennium. As the church clock struck midnight the Millennium Cross on the tower was lit, the new millennium was toasted and rockets exploded over the tower. The High Road and Church End was closed to traffic which helped to create a happy and relaxed party spirit.
At approximately ten minutes after midnight a small yew tree was blessed and planted in the churchyard.

On new year's day a short millennium service was held in church, the church bells rang out at noon and every child in the parish received a millennium mug.

Millennium Festival Weekend - 1^st and 2^nd July 2000
The Festival was opened by the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, Mr Tom Wells, who lives in the parish. The weekend programme included a Flower Festival in the church with local history as the theme, also in the church was an Art Exhibition by the children of Pinchmill School. On Saturday a Mini Market was held in Church End with school children dancing and teas, in the evening a Millennium Party Dance was held in the village Hall.

A football match was held on Sunday morning with teas and a Treasure Hunt in the afternoon, the weekend concluded with Songs of Praise in the Church.
5 Creating a Floral arrangement for the Flower Festival and on the right the result. This creation is in the thirties style of Constance Spry A Victorian arrangement	The Flower arrangers on a well earned break
Teas in the Village Hall	Social drink in the church after Songs of Praise
	School children dancing in Church End
The High Sheriff of Bedfordshire Mr. Tom Wells and his wife Mrs. Jane Wells

The parish party in the village hall

A millennium mug was given to every child in the parish

About the Millennium Yew Tree

Our yew tree is one of several thousand cuttings taken by The Conservation Foundation as part of the Foundation’s “Yews for the Millennium” initiative. Nearly half the parishes in England and Wales will be planting Millennium Yews, involving churches, community groups, colleges, hospitals and individuals, who are taking part in “Yews for the Millennium” as a special opportunity to celebrate the year 2000. The cuttings have been taken from established yew trees throughout the country.
The cutting for our yew was taken from the Mamhilad Yew, Gwent which is estimated to be up to 2500 years old and was collected at a special service at St Albans Abbey.

The yew tree before planting

Time Capsule

The capsule was filled with various year 2000 items. It was sealed and put into a hole that was exposed during the recent restoration work on the north face of the nave. It is hoped that the contents of the capsule will reflect the life and times in Felmersham in the year AD2000.

The picture shows the stone mason plugging the hole with a dated stone inscribed: A.D. MM.
(A.D. = anno Domini - in the year of our Lord; MM = Roman Numeral for 2000)

Flag Pole

The Parish Council erected a flag pole on the church tower to celebrate the millennium.

Millennium Window

The Parochial Church Council commemorated the millennium by replacing the existing window in the Memorial Chapel with an exciting modern stained glass design. The cost of the new window was £5110+VAT and this has been raised by the generous support of the parishioners of Felmersham and Radwell. Millennium Window

Millennium Window

Christmas Candle Holders

New candle holders have been purchased with funds raised from within the community.

The picture on the right shows the new candle holder design. They will be used for the candle-light Christmas Carol Service and for the Christmas Communion Services.

Church Path
A new paved path was laid from the Lych gate to the church porch.
The picture on the right shows Clive, the churchwarden of St Andrews, Bedford, opening the path. Clive held the first fund raising event at his home in order to raise funds for the path, the remainder was raised from within our parish.