Cherry Church

Wedding

Ralph Stephens is a member of our congregation. He was asked by his granddaughter to walk her down the aisle at her wedding. Ralph accepted the task happily and confidently knowing his constant companion, Tori the seeing - eye dog, would give him the confidence for this important event. The photo shows a proud Ralph and his two girls Maddi (his granddaughter) and Tori his great friend. Notice that Tori had flowers round her neck to be properly dressed for the occasion.

The Royal Society for the Blind said this was the first time that a seeing eye dog had been involved in a wedding.

The Bell’s Back

The church has an historic bell that was cast in Adelaide by C.&H. Wyatt in 1851.

In early times, the bell was hung in a tree at the top of Hicks Hill road near Cherry Gardens Road and used for a fire alarm. It could be heard over a wide area, as there wasn’t the noise of modern times. The church acquired the bell and Ken Lewis, likely assisted by the members of the church trust, built a bell tower out of galv. pipe.

The bell tower was dismantled to make way for the construction of the new meeting room. It is now on the northern side of the church grounds and on a plinth. Malcolm Dunn kindly made steel footing plates and with his friends erected the tower and welded it to the plates. Ron Williamson made the cradle of red gum, which was how it was originally done. Ron supervised a team of three people Darryl Dyson, Grant Williamson and his friend Alistair Crooks, and given the weight of the bell and its saddle it was quite a task!

The Heritage Adviser approved the location and construction of the Tower.

The church bell and tower were re – erected and relocated and was rung for the 170th celebrations.