The following article appeared in our local newspaper on 31st August 1999. It is ©1999 The East Anglian Daily Times, and is reproduced with the kind permission of the editor.

'Food of angels' recipes fatten Church funds TERRY Waite just loves crunchy roast potatoes and Delia Smith has worked hard at perfecting a sumptuous carrot cake that will not add inches to your waistline. Both are among a host of celebrities and food fans who have provided recipes for a new book launched at the weekend. The £6.95 paperback was written by legal executive-turned-cookery writer Evelyn Curtis, of Lavenham. She came up with the idea to raise funds for the village's famous St Peter and St Paul's Church, where her husband Cyril runs a bookshop. Mrs Curtis took up the pen when she retired from the legal profession and began editing the work of Suffolk countrywoman Peggy Cole. She took on writing a cookery column for a Somerset magazine and now also contributes to a publication in New Zealand. The idea for Lavenham Cookbook came about last year. Mrs Curtis held a coffee morning and got everyone who attended to bring a recipe for publication before approaching celebrities like Delia Smith, Terry Waite, the Duchess of Devonshire and Alexander Macmillan, chairman of Macmillan Publishing and grandson of the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. WHAT A TREAT: Evelyn Curtis launches Lavenham Cookbook Photograph: ANDY ABBOTT Mouth-watering recipes for starters, main courses, puddings and even preserves are contained in its pages, along with a write-up on Lavenham Church. Mrs Curtis was delighted with the final result: "If I did not know the book and I saw it in a bookshop, it is the sort of thing I would buy." She is now planning her own book, called People and Cooking. Lavenham Cookbook is on sale in the Church bookshop, the Cathedral shop in Bury St Edmunds and shops in Lavenham.

For purchase details, please see the Church Bookstall page.