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Friends Autumn Feast Saturday 12th November 2011 The village hall was laid out with elegance, especially the exquisite floral entrance display created by master florist Pat. The Autumn theme was reflected in the green and gold table settings. As our guests arrived they were served with a refreshing champagne and orange cocktail and found their personally set place to gentle chamber music with Carolyn on the violin and Keith accompanying on the piano. The first course of chorizo, bacon, mushoom and tomato on a bed of baby leaves was whisked out promptly at 19:00 by our amazingly hard working young servers, Katy and Katherine, followed by more entertainment and the fish course - a beautifully light haddock mousse created by our chefs Pat and Dorothy. This was accompanied by several pieces of crisp fresh Melba toast all carefully prepared by Terry with a wedge of lemon More entertainment, this time friendly folk songs from Chris and Liz with his players, then smack on 20:00, the main course of bouef borgninon (a fragrant and rich steak stew with red wine and baby onions) served with new potatoes, glazed carrots and snow peas. We gave people more entertainment here to allow their digestion to cope with it all before we sent our wonderful servers round with a selection of delicious desserts. Even though we had four choices of desserts, the cry we (in the kitchen preparation area) heard most was, ‘More pavlova please’. We must thank all the dessert makers who did a great job (especially with the pavlovas). 
Most people were starting to flag a little by now so were quite stunned by the magnificence of the beautifully arranged cheese platter, with biscuits, butter and a selection of fresh fruit, that arrived at their table next. The final (and I believe sixth!) course of tea / coffee or mints was served at the same time so that everyone could relax, chat and dip into their cheese as they wished. An astonishingly small amount of waste came back to the kitchen, it seems to be extraordinary how much people can eat! But we were very conscious that this was a good compliment to the quality of the catering for the evening. Huge thanks to Tim who manned the bar the whole evening, Carolyn serving Bucks Fizz and especially to Jackie who was everywhere, helping with everything at the same time - and did lots of washing up. It is really hard to make sure that you thank all the people who contributed to such a super evening but please be assured that we do Thank You so much, even if you have not been explicitly mentioned here. The Friends have never attempted anything this ambitious before and it is due to the meticulous planning of our sub committee that it all went off so smoothly without a hitch. A Couple of days before I would have said ‘Never Again’ if anyone had asked about next year but I have been heard to mutter ‘Oh that would make a really good starter next time...’ If you hear that please take me away - gently . Wonderfully we have had some marvellous feedback, the best so far being, ‘That was the best evening EVER’ However, we would be very pleased if you have some feedback from the event (or good photos), it might help us to decide about next year. If so, please contact one of the trustees, listed to the left. The profit for the Friends after (considerable) costs was £740.00. Safari Supper 25th June 2011 It was an absolutely lovely evening for the 2011 Safari Supper. No slogging round the village dripping water on to hosts carpets this year. Instead, garden tables and chairs were washed and prepared, patio doors opened wide and most people enjoyed an alfresco meal in the warm June evening light. It was lovely to see different views of the village, a village that you have perhaps lived in for decades but not actually seen it from others eyes. For myself, it was the wonderful view across a vast garden, more garden, then on to rolling fields with the possibility of seeing a field of ponies and horses next door (they wern't actually there that night... I complained). We live in such an urbanised area it is almost a shock to be given the instant impression that you are lone master of all you can see. Thank you for that Irene and Brian and my lovely starter. 
The Safari Supper this year was the biggest so far. We had 62 brave safari..ends?, armed with their bottle of wine and sun cream. Tim and Carolyn yet again invited us into their home for our commencing drink Boooy, are they good at alcohol. (The Kir was lovely) It looked like so much fun from inside that even their cats wanted to join in, one little mog scratching away at the window furiously. (We didn't let him, thought it would be a waste of good booze). Dorothy had to call people to order, they were chatting so much and having such a good time (refer back to good Kir) that they would never had got their dinner if they hadn't been sent off, clutching their little brown envelopes stating the secret (closely guarded by our wonderful organizers Pat and Dorothy) of where their starter would be. With more people wanting to Safari we needed more hosts and the generosity of Moggerhanger villagers did not disappoint. We went to 15 different houses and throughly enjoyed the attentive hospitality for our starters, then on to our main course. Quite tight to get everybody in, stragglers coming from different parts of the village, fed and then out again to the specific times. We were supposed to be back at the chuch for 21:30 for dessert, but I guess that everyone was so full that they weren't too bothered if the puds had all gone, as people were straggling in for about half an hour after. A big special thank you to the ladies (Eileen, Brenda and Karen) who came to serve the desserts, coffee, tea and mints (as if we hadn't had enough to eat) AND did the washing up afterwards.... and smiled all the time! We are so lucky to have your willingness to help others. This year we achieved £788.03 profit after costs. We give a HUGE Thank You to everyone who participated in the event, organizers, people setting up, all our hosts for the evening and all who cleared up afterwards. To all who gave so generously of their time, resouces and skill. Thank you Let's do it again next year
Quiz Night
Saturday 13th November 2010 
Hot shepherd's pie or lasagne? Vegetables or salad? Which delicious dessert to go for? These were some of the decisions that had to be taken by the 62 people who came to the Friends of St John's Church Quiz Night on Saturday 13th November at the Village Hall. Having eaten, there were many, many more questions to answer on such subjects as cathedrals and catagrams or local pubs and sport - all put by our ace quizmaster Mr Chris Brett. Eight teams battled it out, the winners being the ‘Arty-Facts’ team finally emerging after a sudden-death play-off. A good time was had by everyone and profits from ticket sales, licensed bar and raffle amounted to a magnificent £680 which will be put into the fund for the upkeep and improvements of the church and its grounds. The Friends thank all who came as well as those who prepared the hall, cooked, served and cleared up afterwards.
StarterChalkcroft 
Safari Supper 19th June 2010 Not Quite such a perfect evening this year. It was very cold which was not so condusive to the leisurly drinks in Tim and Carolyn's garden to begin with. But in the spirit of the intrepid explorer 58 people took part and pottered literally from one end of the village to the other with hostings from the bottom of Chalton up to Moggerhanger Park - probably a good 2 miles difference. We had 13 different houses hosting courses, which was wonderful. The more hosts we have the less each individual host has to do and (personally) this year was a doddle! A good time was had by all in spite of the less-than-clement weather, perhaps helped by the liberal ‘sloe gins’ and ‘Limoncello’ that Tim forced on everyone. Thanks to all who cooked and hosted and thanks to all who came. Many many thanks also to Karen, Eileen and Jane who served the desserts and washed up. It was fun and raised £744.86 towards forthcoming projects. Safari Supper 13th June 2009 Once again, the Friends of St John's Church were lucky enough to have a perfect day for the annual Safari Supper in Moggerhanger. Saturday 13 June proved to be a good choice of date because we were treated to warm sunshine all day and all through the evening. This year we had 52 people gathering together in Tim & Carolyn's lovely garden. We kicked off with a choice of drinks - such as Bucks Fizz or Kir Royale - and a chance to look in the envelope which told us where we would find our first course. Some of us just had to nip next door, whilst others travelled to the far ends of the village. An hour later, more envelopes were handed out and the main course venues were revealed. 
A new set of people to meet and more delicious food to be sampled either in our hosts' dining rooms, gardens or (for a few of us) in a room at Moggerhanger Park where Alison (who was on duty) served a fantastic beef wellington to her lucky guests. All change again and back to the church this time at about 9.30 pm for a sumptuous selection of puddings, a chance to take part in the raffle, relax with friends old and new, and round off with a coffee and 'digestif' again supplied by Tim & Carolyn. Our thanks go to everyone who organised, cooked, hosted, offered raffle prizes, made coffee, washed up and generally made the evening go with a swing. It was a very happy way to raise £620 for the upkeep of our lovely church.
Our Quizmaster was Chris Brett and he provided each team with a Joker and after each round the scores were entered on the scoreboard with double points on the joker round. There were some very close-fought rounds but the eventual winners were the Chalton and Moggerhanger Book Group 'The Bookies'. Safari Supper 28th June 2008
Auction of Promises 10th November 2007
Safari Supper 2007 Christmas Flower Demonstration 2006
Saturday
1st July 2006
We did have a lot of excitement at 23:30 though, as Chris and Linda who originally set up the Friends came charging down the church path hoping to get to us for coffee! Even though it was a bit late for that, they did not go away empty handed as they were loaded with cake and ice cream, home made for the desserts. Chris was delighted, William very mournful (he had his eye on the ice cream). The Friends of St. John's who organized the event, sent many thanks to all who cooked and hosted - and special thanks to Eileen and Karen who came to serve puddings, made coffee and wash-up. We think that this is a winning formula for a fun event to raise money for maintaining the church (the amount raised was about £386) - hopefully we can do it again next year. Wednesday
14th December 2005
On 14 December 2005 the church was
filled to
capacity with people who had come to watch the Christmas Flower
Demonstration. This year we had Lisa Howarth from The Flower
Room
in Sandy. She created seven fabulous floral arrangements with
a
Christmas theme using exotic flowers such as orchids and
roses.
At the end of the evening, all the arrangements were raffled.
There was also a sales table run by ladies from the Biggleswade Flower
Club and another selling Christmas decorations created by Pat Whitworth
and Betty Nicol.
Sunday
14th August 2005
It was a lovely walk around the village for about 2 hours for many families following Steve's detailed instructions. The best completed entry won a full Bar B Que for their garden. Saturday
11th June 2005
The Friends of St. John's who organized the event, sent many thanks to all who cooked and hosted - and special thanks to Eileen and Karen who came to serve puddings, made coffee and wash-up. We think that this is a winning formula for a fun event to raise money for maintaining the church (the amount raised was £376.70) - hopefully we can do it again next year. Christmas
Flower Arranging 2004
Once the raffle had been drawn, everyone enjoyed a glass of wine and a mince pie and bought items from the sales tables. The evening was introduced by Dr William Hollington and a vote of thanks was given to Biggleswade Flower Club demonstrators and supporters by Betty Barrance. Special thanks were due to Pat Whitworth, one of our Trustees, who is chairman of the Flower Club who arranged the evening with help from the Committee; to Chris Bashford who provided the sound and lights and to Ted Barrance who was on car parking duty. The evening raised a total of £455.60. 24th
June 2004
A wonderful time was had, with many new friendships formed and waistlines expanded and a decision was quickly made that a new date must be fixed for the next Safari Supper (don’t miss the next one – it will be on 11 June 2005!). The event raised £309.10 for the Friends, all of which will be used to help maintain and improve the church building and churchyard. Thanks to all who cooked, hosted and ate. 24th
June 2004 September
2003
Many people had brought along
their old
photographs of Moggerhanger and there was a display on The Park as well
as a quiz based on old photos of local villages compiled by Chris
Brett. We thank our speakers for giving us their time. The total funds
raised through
|
 Friends of St John's Church, Moggerhanger Charity No: 1097011 |
