St Mark’s Church in Netherton is a small faith community with a large heart for the community they seek to serve. A local community group, L30 Millions, was looking for venues to stop off along their ‘Spooky Trail’ for families for Halloween. Unsure about the darker side of Halloween, the folk at St Mark’s carefully considered their response. They decided it was better to ‘light a candle than to curse the darkness’, so they welcomed the community in.
The site of the wildflower meadow offered an excellent venue for a pumpkin patch. Many of the local children do not have the means of transport for visiting commercial pumpkin patches. L30 provided the pumpkins, and St Mark’s provided loads of pumpkin activities, refreshments, and a pumpkin prayer patch, as well as a warm, enthusiastic welcome. Around 70 people came! It was utter mayhem, but full of joy. St Mark’s achieved one of their dreams – to hear children laughing once again.
