11th April 2012

LYME REGIS: Council to sponsor church flower festival

LYME Regis Town Council has agreed to sponsor the upcoming Flower Festival with a small donation of £50.

A request to sponsor the festival, which will be held at St Michael’s Parish Church over the weekend of September 7th to 9th, came from organiser Betty Wood who spoke at last week’s Tourism and Advertising Sub-committee meeting.

Mrs Wood explained that this year’s festival would be themed “Lyme Life” and would incorporate as many aspects of community life in Lyme Regis as possible. The festival will be opened by Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset, Minnie Churchill, and would tie in with ArtsFest.

Mrs Wood said: “We are doing this because the church does take a lot of money to run and our small congregation does not suffice.

“A flower festival is a very nice way of raising money but flowers do cost a lot.”

She then spoke about the role of the church within the community and showed councillors photos of the last flower festival in 2008.

Mrs Wood added: “We do need help with financing all this and we don’t usually ask for handouts so we hope you will sponsor some flowers.”

Town clerk Mike Lewis explained that the flower festival organisers had asked for a donation through the local grants system in 2008 but had been unsuccessful.

Councillor Lorna Jenkin said: “The flower festival draws people from all around and is very popular with people in the town.”

She suggested £50 would be an “appropriate figure” to donate.

Councillor Chris Clipson said he thought the council should be more generous but it was agreed to donate £50.