All Saints’ Church in Barry celebrated its final public lunch of the Autumn last week with a surprise visit from Vale MP Alun Cairns.
The series of lunches, held on every Thursday in November, were organised to raise money for repairs to the Church Roof. Over £1000 has been raised through the lunches, which were well attended by local residents in West Barry and supported by churchgoers throughout the Vale.
A close-knit team of volunteers prepared varieties of soup and deserts, and acted as waitresses for those attending the event. Lunch was followed by a raffle, with one of the rounds won by Mr Cairns, who picked Christmas wrapping paper as his prize.
Mr Cairns praised the food, atmosphere and fundraising at the event, saying “It was a pleasure to attend the last All Saints Autumn Lunch, I thoroughly enjoyed the soup and must say that the volunteers provided great service.
“There was a warm atmosphere at the event, which gave me a chance to catch up with many local people who I hadn’t seen for some time.
“The lunch was held in aid of a very good cause, All Saints is a lovely church with a very welcoming ethos and I encourage anyone who might be interested to attend their local events to help keep the building functioning as such an important part of Barry life.
“Those who do so much to keep our communities together, such as the volunteers at All Saints who looked after us all so well at the lunch, deserve our thanks and praise. Barry would not work without them.”