A THREE-day flower festival begins today at St Luke the Evangelist Church, Milber, Newton Abbot, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone. On Sunday, the new Bishop of Plymouth, the Rt Rev John Ford, is the principal celebrant and preacher at the 10am parish mass, while the vicar of Kingsteignton and rural dean of Newton Abbot, the Rev Christopher Benson, is the preacher at evening prayer and benediction at 6pm. That will be followed by refreshments in the church hall. It was on June 15, 1936, that the Rev Keble Martin laid the foundation stone as the beginning of the 'dream church' at Milber. He had dreamed of a design for worship enabling all who sat in the congregation to be able to see the altar. It is different because the church has three naves and no chancery screen – the original design did not have a pulpit as it was the intention to preach from the steps of the sanctuary. When the design was published in the Times, the omission of the pulpit caused some controversy with people across the country. Keble and his brother Arthur, who was the architect of the church, then added the pulpit as it is today. Due to lack of finances, St Luke's Church was not completed until 1962. Everyone is invited to the flower festival and the Sunday services.