Bloomin' lovely

The theme of this year's festival is "God is building a house" and Reverend Victor Standing said they were still raising funds to restore the roof, also called the vault, of the building.

The flower arrangements include a tribute to the former Bishop of Johannesburg, Ambrose Reeves, who retired to Shoreham after a lifetime in South Africa.

The festival has been sponsored by Church Retirement Living, who are currently building a development in Southdown Road.

Revd Standing said: "We have taken the title of the flower festival from a worship song of the same name. Many of the flower arrangements are inspired by words taken from this song, which is really about the spiritual house that God is building, but at a time when we are rebuilding the vault in St Mary's it seems appropriate to reflect on this, as well."