Oh My Cabbages!

Sunday evening was celebration time at St. Peter's. The church was full to overflowing, as members from various denominations, gathered for a service organised by Churches Together in Redditch, to celebrate joint projects -
chaplaincies - retail, emergency and hospital,
the Food Bank,
Open the Book,
Messy Church
and the Night Shelter.

To mark the event, it had been requested that the bells were rung. So we did the honours and neatly slotted in our September Quarter peal prior to the service, with a band comprising of ringers from two local churches.

When we arrived, some ninety minutes before the service, the car park was already quite full, as people had  already started arriving to set up various stands in the adjoining meeting room.
Meanwhile, in the church, a rehearsal was underway, as a group of willing Open the Book volunteers were preparing for their storytelling later in the service.
I hope they appreciated the sound of bells in the background as our Quarter peal got underway...

Later during our ringing, the Open the Book team were replaced by the worship band, in their pre-service rehearsal. Listening to your striking against the counter-melody of a bass guitar is an acquired skill, but one the local band has had plenty of opportunity to perfect...

At 6pm the service got underway, with opening words from first the host Rector, followed by the Chair of Churches Together.
Next, some well-loved worship songs were sung.
This was followed by interviews with some of the many volunteers, who enable the joint projects to flourish.

We then reached the high point of the evening - a  re-enactment of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, as enacted by Open the Book volunteers, with plenty of audience participation.
But before we could cheer on the Israelites as they escaped across the Red Sea, or boo the pursuing Egyptians, we had to act out the plagues.
This provided ample opportunity for:-
water polluting
frog hopping
gnat avoiding
fly swatting
livestock dying
boil popping
hailstone pelting
crop devouring
darkness falling
and
clog popping.

Now the KHT LOVES Open the Book and made the most of this unexpected opportunity, throwing her heart and soul into improvising the effect of the ten Egyptian afflictions. We had worked our way steadily through to the eighth disaster, namely the locusts eating all the crops. At this point in the proceedings, there was a momentary lull, into which a horrified sounding KHT interjected with perfect timing
"Oh! My cabbages!"
Cue laughter from everyone within earshot.

Cabbage quarter - with added eyes

Meanwhile, I am left wondering if the Egyptians ever ate that particular vegetable...
Did they flourish on the banks of the Nile?
Did Pharoah's palace look out upon the eastern equivalent of the Vale of Evesham?
Had Pharoah's daughter trod daintily through cabbage fields?
Did cabbages mingle, seamlessly, with the bullrushes?
We will never know!

One thing is certain.
I shall never, ever again think of the plagues that befell the Egyptians,
without thinking of cabbages...