The parish's first fund-raising event took place on Saturday 5th May in the popular venue of Wesley Memorial Hall in the centre of Oxford. We are fortunate in having many talented cooks in our community, whose expertise has been tried and tested in our monthly parish lunches. It was, therefore, decided that our first fundraiser should concentrate on providing a varied menu of East European and Mediterranean foods which would appeal to Saturday shoppers looking for an interesting lunch to eat or to take away.

Click here for a gallery of photographs from the Food Fair...

It seemed to work. The assortment and variety of foods on offer was quite spectacular: hot borscht, pelmeni with sour cream, pirozhky with no fewer than 5 different fillings, pancakes cooked to order, moussaka, and a whole array of cold appetisers and salads. For those with a sweet tooth, there was a tempting selection of cakes seemingly hailing from every corner of Europe, with a particularly popular tiramisu generating its own little queue. An audible sigh of disappointment went up when it was sold out. Fortunately we had kept back a few cheesecakes, which -- while the purists may argue stretched the East European theme a little -- were a well-received substitute.

As well as the food, the fair had a stall selling icons and items of interest, including charcoal and incense for domestic censers. These generated interest with the customers and, what is almost more important, set the general tone as being a Church-related, rather than merely an ethnic food event. The parish display at the far end of the room served a similar purpose. As well as providing information about the Parish of St Nicholas for whose benefit the fair was taking place, the display also informed the reader about the Orthodox Church in general, suggesting further lines of enquiry to those interested in finding out more and inviting visitors to help themselves to small paper icons and timetable of parish services. Many availed themselves of this opportunity, thus adding a missionary aspect to this fundraising event.

Nor was there any shortage of potential converts -- to East European cuisine at least. Whether this was helped by a group of parish children distributing leaflets while dressed in their own versions of ‘East European’ garb remains a mystery - one accompanying parent observed a passing shopper visibly quickening her step in an effort to get away from what she clearly thought was an underage beggar! But one way or another, the message got through, aided no doubt by a leaflet campaign in the previous weeks; and the punters began to roll up. After a somewhat slow beginning in the morning, with many of us wondering what exactly we were going to do with what initially threatened to be substantial ‘fragments that remain’, the pace soon quickened. In particular, there was a sizeable take-up of the offer on the leaflet, promising a free slice of cake to the bearer, once again proving the power of advertising! By 12.30, we were experiencing a serious case of ‘lunch-time rush’ which seemed to merge into tea-time without much change in the volume of customers. The generous quantities of food prepared by the St Nicholas parish and friends were almost entirely taken care of, with only a few plates of leftover cakes and savouries being offered to the parishioners with their Sunday coffee the following day.

This last act of hospitality generated more than £100 in additional donations, adding to the already impressive total of £1,400 raised on the day itself. This overall total of one and-a-half thousand pounds can only be described as a marvellous achievement for our young community, and a result of much work -- both preparatory and on the day -- by all the members and friends of the parish. In particular, we would like to thank the many members of the Greek Orthodox Community of the Holy Trinity who cooked, served and bought the food on offer. It was also a pleasure to see Fr Ian, the parish priest of the Community, who took the time from a very busy Saturday to visit the food fair and dutifully set his fork to an heroic volume of food.

All in all, the food fair proved a profitable as well as an enjoyable first fundraising event for our community, suggesting that it is likely to become an annual fixture in the life of the St Nicholas Parish for many years to come.

Click here for a gallery of photographs from the Food Fair...