A flower festival held in celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday in June raised £350 for St Odulph’s Church in Pillaton.

Over 200 people were welcomed to the church over two days and although entry was free, donations totalled £350.

The last time St Odulph’s Church was in the news it was following the catastrophic damage it suffered due to a lightning strike on Monday 21st January 2013. The community rallied and the church reopened in time for the Remembrance Day service in November of the same year, after extensive repairs were carried out.

In June villagers again came together to stage a floral tribute to the Queen on the occasion of her 90th birthday. The church celebrated “90 Years in Bloom”, with flower displays charting the nine decades of the Queen’s long life from babe in arms, through her childhood to her wedding day, Coronation, her role as mother and grandmother and her long reign.

The flowers recreated and celebrated the English countryside using a mix of wild and cultivated flowers. Of special interest were displays illustrating the bleakness of the war years; the Queen’s racing colours and the Commonwealth.