RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30631, 23 December 1964, Page 24

RANDOM REMINDER

STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS

It is to be hoped that not too much notice is being taken of the Bev. Joseph Reaney, vicar of St. Margaret’s, Great Barr, Birmingham. He suggested recently that confetti should be made from things birds eat, so the churchyards would be left clean after weddings. He had in mind something like very thin pastry or rice paper. On the surface, it seems sensible enough, for there is not a doubt that confetti leaves a fearful mess, sometimes even in the church entrance, and it has to be cleared away later. But people seldom read things carefully. and if the all clear

is given for people to toss things birds eat at the bride and groom there could be fearful consequences. Cooked rice, old crusts, half-eaten sponge cakes, whole loaves, grass seed, vegetables . . . birds have wide interests. But even the thin pastry or rice paper proposal has distinct hazards. If the manufacturers turned to using them for confetti, it would probably be a comfort to the birds and the vergers. But how about those places where weddings are held in offices? The Registrar in Christchurch marries people in a building in Cathedral square. In the summer months, the main doors to the building ara wide

open, the confetti is tossed about in clouds well inside the office. If an invitation was extended to the birds to come in and help themselves—and it is unlikely that the casual shopper would remember to ask for outdoor or indoor confetti, even if two kinds were available—it could be hell. The Registrar’s staff, departing, would probably think they were in the middle of that recent Hitchcock thriller. And what is more, if the birds did swarm in and lap up all the bits and pieces, the probability is that they would not depart without leaving some obvious evidence of their visit. And where do you go from there?