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The last event of the Blewbury Festival as laid out in the Order of Service for the evening might best have been described to a group of attending space travellers along the lines of "It's Evensong Jim, but not as we know it". Setting a new tradition and escaping from the West End the Band had centre stage in the Transept and was determined to make the most of it, much to delight of the assembling congregation which burst into applause during and after a mini concert of music ranging from Brass Band classics (The Lonely Mill Overture by Handel Lancaster) to the Blues (Sugar Blues by Clarence Williams (Trevor's solo), and Hot Diggety, adapted
from Espana by A. Hoffman and Dick Manning.).
 The Festival Committee had set various "Heffalump Traps" for the congregation during the course of the evening. Comforted by the rousing sound of the Old Hundredth, which we can sing without the notes, about halfway through the service the entire congregation was put to the test by being taught, from scratch, a 3 part version of Dona Nobis Pacem and then asked to sing it - Bruce, and others, had to escape from the Band to come to the aid of the 3rd Part at the back of the Church, while the remaining players reinforced by friends from Kidlington and Ware, provided a 3 part accompaniment.
The speakers, from the pulpit on this special evening, addressed the themes of continuity and change in the life of the Village through the twentieth century. Beginning with Joylon's readings from the letters of Kenneth Grahame sharing the delight he had in his house, Boham's, and the unchanging nature of the Berkshire farmers; moving on through the inter-war years, the Cherry teas of the Methodist Chapel and the changes brought by the evacuated schools that made their home in Blewbury for the duration of WW2, and finally focussing on the achievements of the generation of newcomers who came into the village with the building of Grahame Close in the 1960s. Peter Saunders' tale of the five Blewbury Operas especially Gawain, where the beheading scene was handled much better in Blewbury than in the, much later, Birtwistle version for Covent Garden - Nobody in Blewbury would have dared to dim the lights at the crucial moment.- was listened to with rapt attention.
Was there perhaps the chance that Blewbury could stage a sixth opera?
What Ron Freeborn's village of "nutters" achieves in the new century will depend on the enthusiasm of a new generation represented both by Louise's vision of her ministry in the church as she moves towards ordination - a ministry which will be very different from that of the cricketing Cannon Pickles, who arrived in the village at the same time as Grahame Close and was remembered fondly by several of the speakers- and by the enthusiasm of the Committee, led by Erica Harley, which put together this year's Festival. The village is still at the cutting edge of technology. Where once it pioneered graphic design, this year it has given evidence (Bringing Broadband to Blewbury) to a Select Committee of the House of Commons.
To round off the evening, and to bring us back to where we began Father Edwin introduced us to our new curate, Father Russell, ordained deacon that very morning in Christchurch Cathedral and now asked formally to swear before the congregation, in good seventeenth century language, that he would uphold the Catholic Creeds.
As we said Evensong, but not as we knew it.
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The Blewbury Festival returns this year after a break of more than 7 years. The twelve day programme involves almost every aspect of life in the village with activities and exhibitions based on the theme of water happening every day. Programmes - £3 - are available from Blewbury Antiques, London Road, Blewbury OX11 9NX. A proportion of the proceeds of this years festival will be sent to the