St Luke’s Anglican Church market is growing community spirit at Tailem Bend

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With more than 60 stall holders to notify once a month and at least 15-20 on any given market day, the Tailem Bend Anglican church’s community market continues to grow.

With the average age of St Luke’s parishioners being 70-80 years, and with numbers declining, a small group of community-minded people have put on their thinking caps and rolled up their sleeves to focus on bringing the community together through the monthly market.

Tailem Bend Anglican Guild’s Anthony Aylen said his church was focused on supplying community relief for families and individuals, when and where the need arose.

“We have limited personal wealth and our numbers are reducing, so it was necessary to leverage our time and resources,” he said.

“Our community market days are performing that function brilliantly.

“For many, the church offers recognition of an individual’s passage through life: from birth to those important events in life and, ultimately, to the end of that life.

“It is for this reason that we continue to fight to remain a robust and important member of the Tailem Bend community.”

The guild also wanted to be able to maintain Tailem Bend’s Anglican buildings, he said: “Being a large part of our rich heritage, we believe they should be kept in good working order for future generations”.

Held on the fourth Saturday of each month, the Anglican church’s community market holds tremendous scope for more community involvement.

“As with any public event, the Coorong District Council’s support is very important, and we especially thank the council and its members for their help with street signage advising drivers to take care around the event,” Mr Aylen said.

“However, we would really welcome the ability to place permanent signage around the district to advertise the market.

“The committee would also be very appreciative if anyone who has a visible fence or roadside position – subject to council consent – would display signage advertising our market days.”

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Currently, the community market has limited numbers of canopies for hire to stall holders.

If the number of canopies could be increased, more protection from the elements could be offered, making for a more pleasant experience for market visitors on not-so-nice days.

“We would truly welcome any support in this area, from any other like-minded service organisations in the district,” Mr Aylen said.

“With several service organisations in Tailem Bend, all with similar aims as our group, it would be wonderful if we could join together and make the market day a joint endeavor.

“It would allow us to attract attention from a wider area and in doing so, increase dividends beyond what’s available to each organisation, on their own.”

The community market committee has noticed that when the Tailem Bend Lions Club holds its regular market, local residents hold garage sales, or there are football and netball home matches being played on the same day as the Anglican market, public attendance rises substantially.

“We would definitely be open to meeting with other service and sporting organisations with the view of forming a joint committee to plan a more cohesive strategy in helping to bring more people into our town, via our activities,” Mr Aylen said.

• Attend a market: 8am-1pm on the fourth Sunday of each month at St Luke’s Anglican Church, Tailem Bend.