Rose Queen Chooses ACE as her charity!

St. Nicholas Church, Sutton, is one of the few churches in the St. Helens area that still has a Rose Queen. This originated from the walking day, a local tradition in parts of North West England. The coronation ceremony takes place in June each year after much preparation by the Rose Queen and her family in preceding months.

This year’s coronation, held on 28th June as part of the church’s normal Sunday service, celebrated 25 years of the Rose Queen tradition at St. Nicholas with the crowning of the twenty sixth Rose Queen, Eleanor Long, aged 11 years. In recognition of a quarter of a century of the festival, as well as the retiring Rose Queen and her Lady in Waiting being present, several others from past years attended the event. Amongst them was the very first Rose Queen from 1990 who crowned Eleanor.

Eleanor has been part of the community of St. Nicholas Church since the age of three and became a member of the Junior Choir when she was eight years old. She has previously been a petal girl in the Rose Queen’s retinue and has since worked her way through to become Rose Queen.

Each year, the Rose Queen chooses a charity and organises fundraising events throughout her time as Rose Queen. We were delighted to be approached by Eleanor with a view to her raising money for ACE. This followed a presentation that we did on the work of the charity at a Dinner Dance last September, organised by Keith and Claire Morris of Debonaire’s Dance Club.

Eleanor is already working extremely hard to support ACE. At a buffet lunch after the crowning ceremony, she sold baskets with beauty products which had been donated by a local retailer. There were also plants for sale and a raffle with numerous prizes. A few days later, a tombola stall proved very popular at her school gala. This was followed the same evening by a disco, organised in conjunction with the local Scout Troupe. Various other fundraising events are planned, including a vintage Afternoon Tea and a Hot Pot supper.

We still do not have electricity at Arise Community School and Eleanor would like the money that she raises to go towards the purchase of electricity poles. Our eventual aim is that the school should have a computer in order that the children can learn computer skills, an essential in today’s world.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge “thank you” to Eleanor for choosing ACE as her charity and for all the energy and effort that she is putting into raising money for the charity. Thank you, too, to her parents and other family members who are supporting her in her endeavours. The gift of electricity will be another massive step forward for Arise School.

If you would like to support Eleanor in her efforts to fundraise towards the installation of electricity at Arise School, all donations received for this purpose will be added to the amount she raises