The magic of Christmas came to St Lawrence on Tuesday December 4 at the Church Centre. The pantomime was well-attended by children and parents, and grandparents too.

All had an enjoyable evening, with the singing and shouting and joining in with the traditional panto verses. It was, as usual, good family fun, putting us all in the festive mood, and more importantly it was lovely to have something within our own community.

For those of you who are new to the village or those of you who may have never really known the origin of the mini-panto and how it came about, one of our residents, Jo Wenborne, and his family moved here a few years ago and wanted to donate something to help the Village Hall Fund.

His line of work is pantomimes and family entertainment, so for a few years now he has arranged for one of his pantomimes to come and entertain us.

The committee members arrange for this to take place and for sweets and drinks to be available through the show. We would like to thank Syd from The Dairy for donating the sweets.

All this would not be possible without the continued support and donations from the villagers and committee members.

We all look forward to the day when we can see the benefits of all this hard work and dedication, in the form of our own village hall.

POPPY APPEAL

WellL done and thank you, residents of St Lawrence, you did the Royal British Legion proud - a a record £555.87 was collected.

This will help, amongst others, some of our local regiment, the Royal Anglians, who have just returned from active service in Afghanistan. They had nine killed and 56 wounded. Many thanks to Alf and Edgar and the establishments who had collecting boxes.

Don't forget, any ex-service personnel requiring help, my number is 01621 779541.

GUY TICKNER Poppy Organiser

BRIDGE

We had three winners for our game on Friday November 23.

Jean Joslin and Barbara Partridge, Daphne Kerr and Roy Walton, Barbara Elias and Wendy Ledwith. On Monday we also had Joint wionners Chas Moore and David Reed with Gavin Rouse and Len Wright. No slams were bid at either session.

Our winners on Friday November 30 were Barbara Elias and Wendy Ledwith with the Excellent score of 70.24 per cent. Six pairs bid the top slam Six No Trumps.

Monday's game was the monthly prize session won by Valerie Stone and Alan Montague. Helen and Gavin Rouse were second and third were Olive Lindsay and Len Wright.

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

This year's Poppy Appeal has raised a record-breaking figure of £4217.20 - an increase of £800 on last year. The area covered includes Bradwell, St Lawrence, Southminster, Steeple and Tillingham.

The organiser wishes to thank all those involved in this magnificent achievement.