It was a real joy to join together to celebrate the opening of our new, refurbished buildings at St Andrew’s at our Community Open Day on Sunday 8 June, Pentecost Sunday!
Following the church service in the morning, at 12noon we (very temporarily) closed the building – so that we could open it again, but this time with a little more ceremony! The official ‘opener’ was Martha, aged 7 – who is the fifth generation of her family to be part of the church and community at St Andrew’s Oxshott – and so, as she took down the blue ribbon across the front doors and officially opened the building, she represented both the past heritage, present life and future hope of our church – which we pray will be a place of blessing in our whole community for many generations to come.
A wonderful buffet lunch was provided, and all those who gathered were able to enjoy food and drink in the sunshine on the terrace, and around the church grounds, as families gathered from across our community to join with the fun and celebrations.
It was great to see the happy faces of all those enjoying the bouncy castles, garden games, scavenger hunt, and indoor activities – as well as those taking a more relaxed opportunity for cake and company around the church grounds.
We were joined during the afternoon by Bishop Paul – Bishop of Dorking – who at 2pm helped with the burial of our Time Capsule, containing a snapshot of life in Oxshott in 2025.
As part of the afternoon’s celebrations, we partnered with Oxshott Net Zero to plant wildflowers along the hedgerow near the crossroads, which we hope we will see springing up soon – a blessing to nature, and for all to enjoy!
A big thank you to all those who helped with the organisation of this very special day – and helped it to run so smoothly. We have been so encouraged by the number of people who attended, and have let us know how much they would enjoy another Community Day – so, we hope we may be able to make this kind of community gathering a more regular event in the coming years.