IT’S hard to celebrate Harvest Festival well when so much of our food comes from the supermarket. We can feel a long way away from the farmers who produce so much of what we eat.

But in Sandridge, just north of St Albans, the community celebrates harvest with an annual free flower festival that involves children, local organisations, older people and flower arrangers of all levels of experience. It’s held at St Leonard’s Church.

The festival, running from September 30th to October 2nd, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and – to mark the occasion – is celebrating other anniversaries as well.

So the 125th anniversary of Sandridge Cricket Club and 120th anniversary of its football club is being marked, along with celebrating Shakespeare, Roald Dahl, Samuel Ryder and England’s World Cup victory.

The flower festival promises to be a joyous occasion, with free entry and everyone supplying their own blooms. I love seeing people enjoying the arrangements, and staying around for home-made refreshments. The church buzzes for the whole weekend.

The festival will also feature the popular Sandridge knitted village, and be opened by the Mayor of St Albans, Sandridge councillor Frances Leonard – who has also provided a floral display.

We will also be celebrating Harvest Festival at our church services at 10am and 6pm on Sunday October 2nd, collecting money for a water project backed by the Bishop of St Albans in Madagascar, and donating goods to the city’s Feed foodbank.

Harvest? I love it.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here