PLATINUM JUBILEE: More than 300 sit down to a celebratory cream tea in Axminster
By Philip Evans 6th Jun 2022
Axminster's programme of events to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, marking her 70-year reign, ended with the first full civic service seen at the Minster Church for some years.
Co-ordinated by Mervyn and Jaqui Symes on behalf of St Mary's Parish Church, more than 300 hundred crowded in the Minster for a service conducted by the Rector, the Reverend Clive Sedgewick, and attended by civic guests and representatives of local organisation.
The town's uniformed organisations paraded into the church with their standards, followed the Mayor of Axminster, Cllr Jill Farrow, and town, district and county councillors.
Mr Phillip Bostock OBE, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon, gave a reading, as did Cllr Farrow, and the new chairman of Devon County Council, Axminster councillor Ian Hall, read excerpts from the Queen's Christmas addresses.
The Reverend Professor Paul Avis, a Chaplain to the Queen between 2008 and 2017, who now lives locally, spoke about the qualities of Her Majesty.
The service ended with a rousing rendition of the Hymn Jerusalem and the National Anthem with the congregation then moving to the Guildhall for a celebratory cream tea, prepared and served by a team of volunteers - Gay Baulch, Jane Broom, Liz Purvey, Shirley Parris, Jane Bostock and Diana Church.
Afterwards, co-organiser Mervyn Symes commented: "It was a lovely service and there was a very special community spirit in the Guildhall afterwards. Our thanks go to all the volunteers who worked so hard preparing the cream tea for so many."
Other events in and around Axminster over the four-day bank holiday included a number of street parties, afternoon teas served at the Axminster Railway Kitchen and the Conservative Club, among other venues, a Teddy Bears' Picnic at the Pippins Community Centre and the lighting of a brazier on the Minster Green.
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