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To St Mary’s Church! …early on Sunday morning – for the second time in a week as well.

Oh Lordy.

All of this losing your religion bravado can be pushed to the limit when your local House of Bells stages not only a contemporary jazz concert, but also the wonderful Wivenhoe Civic Service and you find yourself very kindly with an invite.

Any Essex wide boy wanting to see some gold bling at the weekend could have done a lot worse than to visit to Wivenhoe. The collective noun for gentleman and ladies almost permanently engraved with gold is that of a Mayor or Mayoress.

Civic duty was very much on the hymn sheet for Sunday morning. Seeing representation from our nearby friends at Brightlingsea and beyond, plus an appearance from the prestigious Mayor of Colchester (and escort, natch) not to mention Bernard Jenkin MP sitting on the front pew, confirms how important all of this civic ceremony actually is.

But for all the travelling bling, this was Bob Needham’s moment. Mr Mayor of Wivenhoe had helped to organise the service, using the opportunity to thank all within the town for the community spirit, which somehow manages to help all walks of Wivenhoe life function collectively.

The very good Reverend Erwin built upon this theme during his sermon. He spoke of how Wivenhoe folk seem to have a resilient spirit that keeps them pushing forward and trying new ideas. I rather like the cut of his jib; the colour of his collar helped me to heal old religious wounds as well.

I managed to mumble my way through some hymns, much in the same way that *some* Secretaries of State mumble through the anthems of their adopted nations.

Yer man Bernie on the front pew however had no such problems. If elections are won and lost on Ecclesiastical enthusiasm alone, the other lot might are in need of something slightly stronger than a prayer.

The collection plate was passed around during Eternal Father Strong to Save. Mumbles now cast aside, I confidently found myself singing “And give for wild confusion,” just as my hand was reaching for the loose change.

Funny, that.

But it was all worthy stuff, with all funds raised evenly split between St Mary’s Church and *shhh* the Mayor’s Charity, aka Wivenhoe Town Mayor’s Appeal Fund. Just don’t tell the nice man from the Treasury, eh, Bernie?

And then with the same grand civic procession exiting St Mary’s in the exact same pecking order in that it entered, that was the Wivenhoe Civic Service for another year. Well, not quite…

To the Loveless Hall! [where else?] …for some light refreshment and sausages on a stick. The spread was actually superb – don’t take my word for it – just witness the very, very good Cllr Ford making sure that he was first in line to sample the sardine sarnies.

The plan of attack was to neck three glasses of red, and then offer a polite prod in the ribs to our esteemed MP and ask him all about the continued delays in building the new Wivenhoe Surgery.

The only problem with the plan being that for *ahem* health reasons, I am actually off the booze right now. No worries – cometh the hour, cometh the man. Mayor Needham thanked the community for coming out to support the service, and then very politely and diplomatically managed to slip the health centre into his speech.

Not so politely (but with great political timing) was the heckling from Labour’s Cllr Young, just as the Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex took to the stage of the Loveless Hall. Bernie must have left Wivenhoe thinking that we are a strong community that enjoys booze but needs something more than a bungalow to help heal all those alcohol mishaps.

Jon Stewart had once again very kindly offered to stage a snapshot of his amazing Wivenhoe Memories exhibition around the walls of the Loveless Hall. I absorbed many of the photographs and pondered the very current history that was being made right in front of me.

That’s the last time that I let @AnnaJCowen loose around the Loveless Hall with half a bottle of white inside her.

And so a truly wonderful Wivenhoe Civic Service, and a splendid light refreshments later in the morning. Much, much praise must be given to magnificent St Mary’s choir that helped to carry the uplifting spirit throughout. Likewise forr the Reverend Erwin, who is as inclusive as he is good humoured.

But most of all, thanks to Mr Mayor and the spirit of community that he was so keen to impact upon the day. I can’t guarantee a hat trick of church visits coming up, but any ceremony that includes bling, booze and a heckled Bernie has to be worth getting out of bed for on a Sunday morning.

Chin chin.

Plus: you can read more about Wivenhoe’s “can do” spirit over on the St Mary’s blog. Good stuff.