This October, local churches have been celebrating Harvest in colourful and abundant ways.
At St Mary's in West Moors, monthly café church took on an ambitious project to mark the end of the season of Creationtide in the form of building and blessing a newly crafted 'Bug Church'!
Revd Andy Muckle, Vicar of St Mary's, asked a retired colleague, the Revd Canon Alan Butler, to construct suitable bug accommodation to be stocked with suitable bug friendly material by an intrepid band of children and adults.
In Yetminster, Harvest collections were gathered from both the church and school at St Andrews, including provisions to go to Sherborne Food, together with donations raised from the raffle held at their Harvest Lunch.
Elsewhere, as a part of this year's Planet Wimborne Green Festival (15 – 22 October), the team from St John's, Wimborne, once again ran their apple pressing event on the Minster Green.
Rescuing hundreds of kilos of apples that were destined for the bin, the team converted them into delicious fresh apple juice.
"It's great fun, and very popular with Festival-goers who sample the juice and are encouraged to try their hand at apple pressing," said David Morgan, one of the event's organisers, and Diocesan Environemtal Officer.
For their Harvest Festival, Milton Abbey School in Dorset took their Chapel Service to the School Farm in a special experience.
At Emmanuel Church in Southill, over 260 children, parents and carers from the local primary school gathered to celebrate the season of Harvest.
Students from the school put on a variety of performances at the event, including a Year Three reading of 'The Tantrum That Saved the World,' and their Year Six singing the Louis Armstrong classic, 'What a Wonderful World'.
Reflecting upon the day, Mrs Wood from Southill Primary said: "It was an uplifting and exuberant celebration of all there is to be thankful for at Harvest time, and it was a joy to be part of!"
The Harnham Parish also had a great time celebrating Harvest at their 'Messy Church' service. There was an autumn treasure hunt, making bread shapes for tea, making leaf sun catchers, crafting bird feeders, songs, and some delicious cake.
Let us know how you've been celebrating with your church community this Harvest by tagging us in your social media posts @DioceseofSalisbury.