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That was a fine way to spend a Friday evening - inside the splendour of St Mary’s buying up a supply of books that should see us through until, oooh, about this time next year when the annual St Mary’s Book Fair is upon us once again.

Blimey.

It takes something slightly more life changing than births, marriages and deaths to get me into a place of religious worship these days. A Book Fair is one of those rare epochal moments in one’s life that you can’t miss.

A slight hiccup in the working day, and the planned 4pm visit was postponed until shortly after six. Turns out it was the right decision. Book Fair’s are an inclusive event, especially so at chucking out time for the little ankle biters.

The word on the street just south of the railway bridge was that St Mary’s became something of a homework club, once the little folk of Broomgrove and Millfields had packed their book bags for the day.

Bt the time of the later shift, the lady (yeah, right…) and I had a far more leisurely approach to our perusing. I wouldn’t quite go as far as describing it an *ahem* adult book affair, but it was all rather laid back and lovely.

The pews were covered in paperbacks and hardbacks; I sought sanctuary towards the cupcake table.

With over 2, 500 books on sale this weekend, the St Mary’s Book Fair should keep the coffers ticking over nicely for another year. My three paperbacks covering the Good, the Bad and the Ugly) clocked in at a Book Fair blasphemous price of precisely £1. I left a little extra in the collection plate to cover my conscience.

@AnnaJCowen meanwhile still had change from her grubby fiver for the five books that she picked up. The RHS Encyclopaedia alone had a publisher’s price of £35.

We had a slight wobble with the good man collecting the coins near the chancel. The confusion came from a bendy book that was neither hardback nor paperback. I didn’t like to argue with a man of religion over flaccidity, and so we happily went with the more hardcore pricing option.

It was ace to catch up with Bookshop Sue …buying books. Talk about a busman’s holiday. Apologies (as ever) for what I think was some name confusion yet again, but I think we got there in the end.

Sue let slip that the fine folk of Wivenhoe Bookshop are already planning the next intimate night of acoustic music within the surrounds of the back of the shop. The weekend of the May Fair was mentioned; a jazzed up gypsy style band is all that I can give away right now.

Meanwhile, the St Mary’s annual Book Fair continues on Saturday morning. I’ve always valued churches as places of great learning and wisdom, and not necessarily involving religion either.

I think I’ve become a convert.