What a weekend! On Saturday, July 11th, Croydon Spiritualist Church celebrated a historic milestone: our grand 100th birthday party! Even though our official church birthday lands in March, we have long favoured a summer celebration—a beautiful tradition born back when we first moved into our current building and a simple annual garden party morphed into the wonderful celebration we enjoy today.
And what a spectacular day it was. Our Honorary Vice-President, Derek Pipe OBE, summed it up perfectly when he described the entire event as “a triumph.” Despite the blazing summer heat, the church was packed with joyful energy, laughter, and a wonderful sense of community.
A Feast Fit for a Centenary
You can’t celebrate a centenary without spectacular food, and our spread was truly next-level. We owe a massive debt of gratitude to Sharon and Donna—the daughters of our dear departed committee member and legendary social convenor, Lorna Colley. They stepped into their mother’s shoes beautifully, creating a fabulous buffet that did Lorna’s memory incredibly proud.
To top off the culinary delights, we cut into a magnificent birthday cake brought to us by Sadie Campbell. It looked stunning and tasted even better!
Mind-Boggling Magic and Mind-Melting Quizzes
Once everyone was thoroughly fed, the entertainment kicked off with a brilliant performance by the wonderful magician, Steve Shane. Steve wowed us all with his mind-bending table magic before taking to the floor for a standup show that left everyone laughing and scratching their heads in pure amazement.
Before that came the legendary fun quiz, split into two fiercely contested sections:
- The “100” Round: The theme was fittingly centered on the number 100, with most of the clever questions set by Jenny Wood.
- The Chocolate Cross-Section Round: A hilarious visual test where teams had to identify various popular chocolate bars just by looking at their cross-sections.
Fittingly enough, the winning team walked away with a bag of chocolate bars to share!
A Massive Thank You to Our Volunteers!
An event this huge doesn’t just happen by magic (sorry, Steve!). It takes a dedicated village to pull it off, and we have so many incredible people to thank for their hard work:
- The Friday Prep Crew: Thank you to our officers, Philip and Catherine, who gave up their Friday to come in and set up the room perfectly.
- The On-the-Day Dream Team: A huge shoutout to Christine, Philip, Carly, and Sharon for helping on the day with hosting duties and clearing up.
- The Raffle Queen: Thank you to Catherine for organising what turned out to be an absolutely massive raffle.
- Our Generous Members: Thank you to all the members who brought in a staggering number of raffle prizes—there were far more than we ever expected!
- The Table-Collapsing Titan: A special mention must go to Derek’s guest, Belinda, who worked like a trojan helping us collapse the heavy tables and put them away in record time. All those hours in the gym definitely paid off!
- The Night-Owl Hero: Last but certainly not least, a heartfelt thank you to Carly, who came back very late in the evening after everyone had left to hoover the entire church and set the chairs back up ready for Sunday morning’s Divine Service.
Thank you to every single one of our members and guests who came out to make our centenary so special. We are incredibly proud of our history, our community, and our shared spiritual journey.
Now that the centenary dust has settled, it leaves us with just one lingering, mischievous question: What will happen next year in Room 101?
