November is not my favourite month of the year: not quite as bad as February, but close. Fortunately, the Friends are doing everything that they can to relieve the gloom.

To give us strength to face the month ahead, we had an excellent event at the end of October when Sue Andrew cheered us all with a wonderful lecture, entitled ‘Angels on Fire: The Survival of Medieval Roof Bosses in Devon’, which included many magnificent illustrations of roof bosses, some of them from St Eustachius’.

We have also decided to shorten the month by bringing forward the start of the Christmas Tree Festival, which last year began in December, to the 26^th November, and by the time that you read this, the Festival should be in full swing with 54 magnificently decorated trees, a programme of music, and delicious refreshments available in the church.  Dickensian Evening will have come and gone, with the opening of the Festival by the mayor of Tavistock, entertainments in the churchyard, and the launch of the Friends’ ‘One in a Thousand’ Raffle, with the chance to win a brand new VW Fox.

And then we shall be looking forward to 2011. We have already notified the dates of some of our events in 2011, but here is another one for your diaries: Saturday 5^th March 2011, when we hope to hold a Celtic Evening in the parish centre. We are planning an evening of Celtic food and Celtic entertainment, and we have a number of Welsh, Irish and Cornish members whom we are hoping will contribute. We are, however, rather short of Scots, and if you are Scottish and would like to cook a haggis, dance a highland fling or contribute in any other way, we would be delighted to hear from you.

As well as cheering us up, all this activity should help us raise even more funds to maintain and beautify the church. With money raised so far, and the receipt of a legacy, the Friends are expecting to make more donations to the PCC in the near future. The first donation will be to cover the costs of drawing up plans of the church, and we also hope to make substantial contributions to forthcoming major projects including the refurbishment of the ceiling and especially the re-ordering of the west end of the church.

So, please keep up the good work. Come to Friends’ events and contribute to their organisation, and, if you are not already a member, please join up.

With my thanks and with every good wish,