Shipdham arts festival draws to a close

The sixth Shipdham Art Festival was held in All Saints' Church last weekend with an art exhibition, craft fair, jazz concert and a Festival Praise service.

The sixth Shipdham Art Festival was held in All Saints' Church last weekend with an art exhibition, craft fair, jazz concert and a Festival Praise service.

The art exhibition, organised by a committee led by Kerry Buck, attracted over 120 exhibits (the most ever) from 12 local artists and craftspersons, all from Norfolk or Suffolk. The exhibition ran from Friday through Sunday and featured water-colours, acrylics, oils, collagraphs, pastels, textiles, engravings, pottery, glassware and papier-mach�; local artists were well-represented by Kerry Buck and Elizabeth Mace. The exhibits were all for sale and trade from the many visitors was brisk, particularly during the private viewing on the Thursday evening.

The craft fair, held on Saturday in the nave alongside the art show, was also well-attended and presented a number of diverse activities ranging from hand-made walking sticks to wood turnings, bee-keeping products, jewellery and home-made jams and chutneys.

The Festival All Stars jazz band entertained an appreciative audience on Saturday evening, and on Sunday afternoon there was a Festival Praise service led by Priest-in-Charge Rev Louse Alder which was part of the church's Patronal Festival celebrating All Saints' Day.

Caf� Saints operated in St Thomas' Chapel throughout the festival offering tea, coffee, snacks and light lunches which proved very popular with the visitors.

The Festival was held in conjunction with All Saints' Gift Day to which a contribution was made from all festival sales.

END

{Note to Ed. Photos are:

a.Art Exhibition in the nave - general view

b.Fantasy garden

c.Wall plaques and water colours

d.Papier-mach� sheep by children from Shipdham's Thomas Bullock School Art Club

e.Home-made jams and chutneys (Miss Enid Lilley sitting, Coral Stebbing standing)

f.Eric Hill and sticks}