Community raises thousands for local parish

L-R: St Luke's Op Shop volunteers Betsy Newman, coordinator Jill Shaw, and John Born. BELOW: Surfcoast Anglican Parish's annual fete created a community buzz last weekend at St Luke's Church. Photos: KEN FARROW

A LOCAL parish has raised thousands of dollars at its annual fete event to assist with its ongoing projects, while providing a lively day for the community to enjoy.

Surfcoast Anglican Parish in Torquay is celebrating another successful fete, raising over $6,400 on Saturday which will go to ongoing operational costs.

Peter Robinson provided various plant options at the fete.

Parish vicar Sharon Valentino said hundreds of guests arrived at St Luke’s Church to peruse a range of stalls which included home-made sweets, produce, op shop items, and plants to name a few.

“Locals and visitors alike took advantage of the pleasant weather to view the stalls inside and outside the church,” Ms Valentino said.

“The fete is not only about fundraising, it’s also a great opportunity for the community to interact with one another and raise a few funds for the church as well.

Rosemary Faris behind her full range of jams.

“Fetes are not as common these days, but for us, it still remains a great community-building event, and the fete adds to the continuity of events we have throughout the year.

“It’s also a pulling together of our own community which allows our members to showcase their passions in life, such as our talented crafters and cooks where they can have a display and sell their produce.”

The funds raised from the fete will go towards necessary maintenance and renovations of St Luke’s Church, Transfiguration Church in Anglesea, and St Aidan’s Church in Aireys Inlet.

L-R: Dorothy Anderson and Sandy Born had a full range of baked good on hand for visitors.

The parish has just completed the construction of a new ramp at the base of the St Luke’s Church to assist with accessibility for older church members. The ramp in total cost the church $35,000 to complete.

“As you can imagine, we have an old timber building, we’ve got some rotten boards we’ll have to fix up, some leaking in the roof, a bit of electrical work is needed; this is the majority of what we need to do to keep the place in good nick,” Ms Valentino said.

“We’ll also use the funding to decide how we strategically develop the church and our other sites, such as Torquay, Anglesea, and Aireys Inlet.”

For more on the happenings at Surfcoast Anglican Parish, head to surfcoastanglican.org.au