In March 2014 we held an event called 'Dinner & Divas'
A tasty meal was served, interspersed with entertainment by three local 'Divas'
(Kate Woolf, Linda Smith & Harriet Smith).
The event was a great success, and we received a lovely E Mail of thanks which is reprinted here:

"I SO wanted to write to say what an amazing evening we had
at Over Church Hall.  The meal, as always was superb and as always was
supplied by lovely, helpful people.  Also, the ladies who sang were
brilliant and VERY entertaining.  I can't wait to hopefully see them
again one day? 
We are really lucky to be able to come along and enjoy
these wonderful events and I wonder if you can either print this message or
forward it to someone who can pass it on to all those who worked so hard to
feed and entertain us on a superb evening.  I haven't
enjoyed myself so much for a long time and cannot praise everyone enough".
Eileen

Our Divas returned in March 2015 with a programme of West End Songs.
They played to a full house of 90 people, who also enjoyed a great two-course meal, with coffee.
Many very favourable comments were received after the event.

Brass Band & Barbecue Evening

In June 2014 we held a wonderful event in the garden of our Secretary, Carolyn Redmayne.
89 people attended and enjoyed a fabulous barbecue of locally produced meats
served with salads and followed up by an absolute pudding feast!
During the evening we were entertained by Cottenham Brass Band.
One of those attending sent the following message:
A huge thank you to all for such a splendid evening last night.  

The venue, the food, the entertainment and the company were simply brilliant
and it was a most enjoyable evening.

We have put together a short video to give a flavour of the event,
(the music playing is Cottenham Brass playing a medley from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
click this link to view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PnU4gCfz9Y

In November 2014 we were entertained by 'Hobson's Voice' (Over's very own folk group) at our 'Folk & Food' evening

87 people packed the hall for a great evening's entertainment,

feasting on Chicken or Sausage Casserole, served with a jacket potato.

Puddings were Lemon Meringue Roulade or Sticky Toffee Pudding & Custard.

Tea & Tinkles

On one Sunday in each of June, July & August 2015 we held an event we affectionately called 'Tea & Tinkles'.

We served delicious cream teas, accompanied by tinkling piano music.

It was well-supported and enjoyed by all.

"We brought friends along with us yesterday, and we all commented about the high
standard of baking alongside the high standard of music played.

 Another comment of amazement was that so many young people were involved.

A huge thank you to everyone...at front of house, behind the scenes, the bakers and the musicians."

Tea at the Ritz

In June 2016 we packed the Church Hall for our first 'Tea at the Ritz' style event.

A high quality afternoon tea was served, with a musical accompaniment provided  by a professional String Quartet.

"I didn't realize how quickly “The Ritz” could jump from London to Over!!! 

The afternoon could not have been better.

No accolade is enough to show our thanks to you all for another great event.

“Perfection”.

It was so successful that 'Tea at the Ritz' has become an annual event.

                   2017                                                                            2018                                                                                 2019

A thank-you message received in 2019

"Congratulations on a wonderful event. I'm sure that 'The Ritz' could not have done any better.

What a great achievement,

over 1000 individual items of food produced, all served by smartly dressed waiters and waitresses.

When we thought we had finished with sandwiches, cakes etc, then along came scones, Devon cream and raspberry jam.

What a way to finish off our tea in style!

Thank you to everyone involved,

the amount of work, planning and organization that went into this event made for a truly wonderful afternoon"

In August 2017 we began holding our 'Summer Sunday' events.

Two Sundays in August

The first was a buffet lunch in the Church Hall :

The second was a cream tea in the garden of Carolyn & Nick Redmayne

We ended 2017 with another afternoon tea,

this time it was a festive event held at the Smith's house, so it was called 'Tea at the Smitz'

2018 saw a new quiz evening, based on the 1980's TV show

BULLSEYE

Lots of fun, and some seriously dodgy dart throwing!

In October Carolyn Redmayne gave a talk and slide show called

'VOICES OF OVER'

A look at old photographs of Over accompanied by words spoken by past inhabitants of the village.

In November, to celebrate 100 years since the end of World War 1 we held an event called

'From the Trenches to Tipperary'

An evening of light entertainment and food from the era.

Songs for St Valentine

In February 2019 we held an evening of music and food to celebrate St Valentine's Day.

Our very own 'splendid soprano' Harriet Smith, performed a fabulous programme of songs about Love

accompanied by Stephen Ades on the piano.

Coupled with a delicious cooked meal, the evening was a great success.

This event was repeated in 2020, and was the last event we were able to hold before the Coronavirus pandemic

caused all gatherings to be banned until further notice.

Despite the Coronavirus pandemic preventing most gatherings from taking place, in 2021 we did manage two small scale events;

For the first, Colin & Linda Smith opened their garden on a Saturday in August for an outdoor coffee morning.  As this was meeting outdoors, which the government were advising was the safest way, a good number of people attended  and really enjoyed the opportunity to meet together with friends once again.

Then in December, Colin & Linda opened their home on two days for a festive afternoon tea (Tea at the Smitz!)

To ensure everyone's safety, guests were required to provide a negative Lateral Flow Covid test as a condition of entry and numbers were limited to a maximum of 6 guests in each room.

It was a lovely way to start the Christmas season.

2022 was a difficult year, with Coronavirus still very much with us, we opted not to hold events until it felt safe to do so once again.

We did hold our AGM (which has become popular due to the free tea & cakes for all who attend!) and then in October we held our second Scarecrow Festival. This was really well-supported, both from entries of scarecrows for display and visitors to the festival.

Please see our separate page dedicated to Scarecrow Festival 2022, where you will find pictures of all the entries.

2023

Our first event of 2023 was our Late Valentines Lunch on 19th February.

64 Guests enjoyed a 2-course meal with welcome canapés, interspersed with entertainment from Soprano Soloist Harriet Smith.

In May 2023 the UK celebrated the coronation of king Charles III. The Friends of St Mary's celebrated by serving cream teas on the bank holiday Monday. 154 guests came along to enjoy a wonderful selection of cream teas and cakes.

September 2023 saw the return visit of Cottenham Brass Band; this time performing in the Church.

It was a truly great evening, with some wonderful music and fabulous interval refreshments.

In October 2023 we held a quiz evening, loosely based on the TV programme 'House of Games'.

We called it our Church Hall of Games, and 12 teams battled their way through some taxing and bizarre quiz rounds, breaking halfway through for food, before going on to complete for some decidedly dodgy prizes for the winning team!

It was fun and frustrating in equal measure, but we hope that it was an enjoyable evening for everyone.

At least those teams who did not win were glad, once they saw the prizes !!