Festive fundraiser at St Margaret's raises a magical £2,000

Organisers were thrilled by the turnout and the amazing £2,000 raised for church funds.

Hundreds of people flocked to the event, which was opened by Councillor Martin McCluskey.

Moira Hellyer, session clerk, said: "It was an absolutely fantastic day, there must have been at least 200 people throughout the morning.

"I was speechless at the turnout, it was packed. We usually open at 10am and the hall starts to empty at 11.30am, but we were chasing people out at 12.15pm.

"Martin McCluskey opened the fayre for us which was lovely."

There was a hand-knitting stall, which was as popular as ever, plus home baking, bric-a-brac, a bottle stall and craft stall.

Moira said: "A craft group had been meeting up in the church since September, so this was a chance to showcase all their decorations.

"We had a guess the weight of the Christmas cake competition which was baked by the daughter of a member of the church.

"It was designed like an igloo with penguins and looked absolutely amazing."

Moira said she was overwhelmed by the response to the event.

She said: "There is a great community at St Margaret's, we are always very well supported. I think Santa must have been out the night before and sprinkled fairy dust over the church. The Christmas spirit was there in bucketloads."

Moira said that although two or three ladies had helped to organise the fayre, it was very much a whole church effort.

She said: "It was a massive team effort in the run up to the fayre. Everyone got involved."