ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE PARISH OF GREAT AYTON with EASBY
for the Year
ended 31st December 2004
PAROCHIAL
CHURCH COUNCIL (PCC)
1.
Membership
The
following people served as members of the PCC during 2004
|
The
Vicar |
Canon
|
|
|
Curate |
Revd.
|
|
|
Churchwardens |
Mr
|
Mr Gordon Wood |
|
PCC
members |
Mr
Ken Bellamy |
Mr Eric Boyce |
|
|
Mr
Jon Dean |
Mr Robin Harmar |
|
|
Mrs
Dorothy Harbottle |
Mrs Doris Huddlestone |
|
|
Mr
John Huddlestone |
Mrs Maureen Hudson |
|
|
Dr
Nicholas Land |
Mr Robert Lappin |
|
|
Mrs
Margaret Lewis |
Mr Malcolm Race |
|
|
Mrs
Jean Robinson |
Mr Martin Simmons |
|
|
Mr
Ken Taylor |
Mr Peter Titchmarsh |
|
|
Mrs
Rosemary Wheway |
|
2. Objects and Constitution of the PCC
The
object of the PCC of Christ Church Great Ayton is to further the work of the
Church of England in the Parish of Great Ayton.
The
PCC of Christ Church is a body corporate. The composition and procedure is
regulated by the Church representation rules as contained in schedule 3 of the Synodical
Government Measure (as amended). The functions and powers of the PCC
are contained in the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956, as
amended by the 1969 Measure.
Elections
to the PCC are held annually. All members of the Church Electoral Roll are
entitled to vote and stand for election. There is also provision for the
co-option of members of the PCC and the incumbent is the Chairman and ex-officio
member.
Minutes
of the Annual Parochial Meeting of
In
attendance: The Vicar(Chair), Mr & Mrs Boyce, Mr & Mrs Dean, Mr &
Mrs J Huddlestone, Mr & Mrs R Huddleston, Mr & Mrs A Moon, Mr & Mrs
E Pannett, Mr & Mrs R Huddlestone, Mr & Mrs Rowland; Mesdames M
Grainger, M Hudson, L Lamb, L Nicholson, R Wheway, A Whittaker, Messrs R
Harmar, D Herriman, Revd. G Jaques, R Lappin, M Simmons, G Wood. The meeting opened
with prayers.
Election of Churchwardens
Mr G Wood - proposed
Mr E Pannett - proposed P Titchmarsh and seconded M Mason
were elected unopposed to
serve as Churchwardens. A special thanks to Doris Huddlestone for all her work
during the four years as Churchwarden.
Agenda:-
1. Apologies for absence:- Mr & Mrs de Wardt, Mr & Mrs Titchmarsh, Mr & Mrs J Winterschladen, Mr & Mrs J Dickinson, Mr & Mrs P Prunty, Mr & Mrs K Bellamy, Mr & Mrs K Taylor, Mr
& Mrs J Manton; Mesdames E Brown, A Collins, J Crombie,
E Davison, M Herriman, A Jaques, J Roberts, L Walker, D Wood; Messrs N Land, C
Thompson.
2. Minutes of the 2003 Annual Meeting were
accepted as a true record: proposed Mrs D Huddlestone,
seconded Mr E Pannett.
3. Matters arising: there were no matters
arising from the minutes.
4. Electoral Roll Report as at 7th
March 2004
The
Electoral Roll at the Annual Parochial Meeting in 2003 stood at 290. I am pleased to Report
that following the review for 2004, which closed on 7th March, the
number appearing on the Roll is now 304 - a net increase of 14 for the year. This net increase
is due to 17 new applications being accepted and 3 deaths.
The
last complete renewal of the Roll was in 2002 so in accordance with the rules
for a hex-annual review the next full renewal of the Electoral Roll will be in
2008.
It
is encouraging that there have been 17 new applications but there is still a significant number of Church members who are not
on the Roll.
Applications
for enrolment can be accepted after the conclusion of the Annual Meeting and
throughout the year - not just at the Annual Revision.
R
Electoral Roll Officer
5. Presentation and Adoption of the Annual
Report 2003, including a Report on the fabric, goods and ornaments of the
Church.
The
Report was circulated four weeks prior to the meeting: proposed by L Lamb and
seconded by G Jaques that the Report be accepted with a special thanks to
everyone who contributed to this very detailed record of all Church activities.
6. Financial Report
R
Harmar gave a Report on the finances of the Church, including the fundraising
initiatives planned for this year. He also thanked all the people
involved in collecting, counting and fundraising for the Church, with a special
mention of the money required to repair our spire, a sub-committee has been
formed to progress the substantial amount (could be up to £50K) needed: thanks
to Audrey Collins for her input into the Spire team.
The
budget for 2004 was circulated for all the meeting, with projects and quota
accounting for over £100K.
The
meeting thanked Robin for all his work during the year.
In
response to a question from the floor, the Chairman informed the meeting that
the Stokesley Christian Youth Project was well received by the school and they
will be attending our Church to give feedback for the congregation on their
progress.
The report was accepted,
proposed M Simmons, seconded G Jaques.
7. The Vicar’s Comments
Paul
thanked all the people involved in helping in any way to the running of the
special services in the Church Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals: these resulted
in some £4,000 going to the Diocesan fund. He also thanked the helpers of the
Sunday School with numbers increasing over the year.
The
Wydale weekend also had an increase in attenders with
thanks to Geoff & Jon who organise the event: our mission action plan also
retains links with Rodger Petch, CMS & Matthias in Ho,
The
Church Spire project and the Church roof in Ho
Paul
thanked everyone involved in the day to day running of the Church, both at
services and with the maintenance of the building.
M
Simmons thanked Paul for all his work and guidance during the year and this was
endorsed by the meeting.
8. A Resolution regarding the format of the
Parochial Church Council.
Following
a note from the Diocesan Registrar regarding the number of Lay Representatives
on the PCC, the Standing Committee proposed that we:- retain our existing
format with no increase in numbers. The following numbers were agreed to
represent our Parochial Church Council.
The
Vicar (Chairman)
Curate
Two
Churchwardens
Two
Readers
Four
Deanery Synod Representatives
Twelve Lay members
This was accepted
unanimously by the meeting
9. Election of three Lay representatives to the
PCC.
M Race proposed
M Simmons proposed by J Nash seconded D Huddlestone
D
Huddlestone proposed
10. Appointment of Sidesmen/women
It was agreed to issue a
full list with telephone numbers.
11. Appointment of Auditors
With thanks to Audrey
for her work.
Stanley V Bye & Co were re-appointed as auditors.
12. Any questions about Church matters,
recommendations or resolutions for consideration by the PCC.
M
Grainger thanked the members of the Sunday School
staff for their contribution to Church Services and the different projects that
the children are involved in.
J
Dean proposed a vote of thanks for Paul’s work during the year, also Geoff,
Margaret and Peter for their support. This was fully supported by the
meeting.
Meeting closed.
PCC Secretary
CHURCHWARDENS REPORT
The
congregation will be reassured to know that the Church silver and records
online continue to be safe and updated at the conclusion of a vibrant year of activity
and commitment.
The
rejection of our funding appeal to English Heritage and an escalating estimate
of Church spire repair costs inspired a communal determination to raise the essential funding within the Parish.
Short
of a final £10,000, hopefully made up within the promised minor grants and
other contributions, a magnificent total of £60,000 approximately has been
achieved. This
will enable us to meet all of the demands of the SARA appeal here and in
The
determination, generosity, empathy and remarkable industry of parishioners and
the village population have again brought about success and a real exhibition
of care, concern and love.
All
concerned should be genuinely thanked and highly commended for their response
and participation.
May
the Churchwardens, who carry some legal responsibility within this, offer their
sincere gratitude to all involved.
In
parallel with the above continued support has been given to the Diocese of Ho,
the Youth Workers in Stokesley School, various annual charity contributions
alongside the maintenance requirements at All Saints Church and the meeting of
our Parish share in full.
Complacency
would, however, be foolish as recent gales have necessitated unanticipated
repairs and the Christ Church East window is bulging ominously. Not to mention the
Tsunami Appeal which has again brought about a remarkable
parishioner response.
As
Spring 2005 approaches, there is much to be proud and
hopeful about.
Work
will shortly begin on the spire and replaced windows will be put in place at
All Saints.
We
have an active and rapidly expanding Sunday School. The recent Deanery Confirmation
Service held at
We continue to enjoy large congregational support
at our events and services throughout the year and another of our Church family
is preparing impressively for Ordination.
We have much to be thankful for as we look forward
to Lent Services and ‘Getting up with God’ in another year of support for the
ministerial team which leads us so enthusiastically and competently.
But,
again, we need to remain ever vigilant and determined throughout the coming year
to maintain and improve on everything achieved to date, particularly in the
attraction and maintenance of our youth within our community activities.
Gordon Wood and
Churchwardens
PCC
SECRETARY'S REPORT
The PCC has met on six occasions during the year
and the Standing Committee has been convened seven times to discuss and
progress a full range of topics to ensure the smooth running of the Church. There are also a
number of sub-committees who meet to progress specific items and they report to
the PCC. This year we formed an extra committee to deal with the fund raising
for the Church Spire. All
Council meetings have been well attended.
A number of projects have been identified with the
Church Spire a priority for urgent action: other work has been completed on the
drains and gutters and the work at All Saints on windows and flooring is now
near to commencement, after a long and sometimes difficult process to get the
work organised. In
The fund raising of nearly 60k has been generated
by the launch of the talents scheme and a special gift day. We have enjoyed many new fund raising
ideas/events and individual acts of bravery (Paul’s absail
down the Transporter Bridge) a tremendous achievement by everyone involved.
As part of our Living the Gospel initiative again a
group attended Wydale Hall for a most enjoyable weekend in September, this has
become so successful that similar weekends are planned for 2005 & 6.We
continue to support the Diocese of HO in Ghana and delighted that a roof is now
on the Church in the Ho Diocese as a result of the fund raising that run in
parallel with our Spire appeal. We also continue to support the Deanery youth
workers based in Stokesley.
Our
mission giving to many worthy causes both at home and overseas continues to be
a high priority for our church, the PCC will continue to support the needs of
the less fortunate in the world and will seek to preserve all the valued
buildings and furnishings including All Saints Church and other amenities
within our jurisdiction and the essential continuing support from covenants and
other donations will be effectively deployed by the Church Council.
Eric Boyce
PCC Secretary
FINANCIAL REPORT 2004
It
is just a year since the inspection of the spire, following the advice given in
our latest quinquennial inspection. An estimate of
the work required informed us of the need to raise £50,000 to enable the
repairs to be made. The Parochial Church Council decided to link the raising of
funds for spire with the roofing of St Paul’s church, Agbozume in Ghana, by
launching the ‘Spire and Roof appeal’ (SARA). An early set back was the
decision by the English Heritage Lottery Fund not to support the application
for a grant. Undaunted the appeal went from strength to strength, firstly with
the launch of the ‘Talents Scheme’ and secondly the running of a ‘Gift Day’. A
huge vote of thanks must go to Paul for masterminding both these events,
especially the latter that was a new venture for this church. SARA has been a tremendous success
raising £50,253; this has only been achieved through the hard work and
generosity of so many people. Our very grateful thanks goes out to all those
who made individual donations, all the organisations, clubs and societies that
supported us in so many different ways and last but by no means least for all
those involved in the Talents Scheme, it just shows what a diversity of talent
we have within the community.
During
the year we have been very fortunate to receive legacies from the estates of
the late William Hague and Andre Robertson, the latter being for All Saints
church. Donations were very gratefully received from the funeral collections of
the late Bob Pickersgill, Andre Robertson, Don
Tanfield, Doris Brack, Eileen Collins, John Trenholme, Gwen Peart, Ena Bower, Ernie Watson, Alice Wood, Eric Brown, Irene
Holland, Marjorie Swainson and Emily Botterill.
The
Bazaar was once again a resounding success with yet another record profit of £3447. This was a
particular noteworthy performance considering all the other fundraising that
has gone on this year. The work of Dulcie Jones, Bob Lappin and all the
stallholders who worked so hard throughout the year and on the day is very much
appreciated.
The
Parochial Church Council continued its support of the Christian youth worker
based at
The
restoration work on the spire is now planned. Taylor Hastwell
of Bishop Auckland have been appointed to undertake
this work starting in early May 2005. The only other project completed this
year was on the church drains at a cost of £1054.
The parish share of £48,240 was once again paid in
full, which in part helped the deanery fulfil its requirement towards the
diocese. In 2005 the parish share will rise to £50,157
a rise of just under 4%. In an effort to raise further funds the Parochial
Church Council decided to introduce the taking of a collection at the 9:15
service this has brought in an additional £500 over a six-month period when
compared with the same period in 2003. The church would benefit further in
financial terms if more people could be persuaded to join either the envelope
scheme or the setting up of a regular payment by standing order through a bank.
This not only increases the regular income of the church but also, for
taxpayers, allows the church to reclaim, from the Inland Revenue, approximately
28 pence for every £1 donated. This year over £9,500 was reclaimed for the
general funds of the church.
2004
saw the general reserve fall by just over £450 to £13,604, once again much in
line with the budget. It is expected to be at a similar level in 2005 now that
the majority of the fundraising has been completed for the restoration of the
spire. Reserves for All Saints rose by nearly £2000 during the year to £11,664.
There are two reasons for this rise, first the result of a very generous legacy
and second the projects involving repairs to the windows and floor have been
postponed until 2005.
Many individuals do much hard work when it comes to
running of the church finances. Very sincere thanks to Sheila Levett for administering the Gift Aid scheme, to Jean Goat
for looking after the Envelopes and to Joan Rowlands
and John Huddlestone who between them collate and bank the collections week by
week. Many thanks to all those who count the collections at
the end of every service, what a great help you provide. The Church Hall
benefits greatly from the diligent work of Jennifer Roberts, thank you very
much. The 200 club, which very successfully raises money for the Church Hall,
has been run for many years now by Peter Titchmarsh. Very grateful thanks to Peter
for his hard work over the years and to Jane Johnson and Julie Leng for
volunteering to take over this job. There are a huge number of people who have
helped the church finances over the year by giving so much, thank you all.
Finally, thank you to
Joan Rowland for auditing the accounts on behalf of Stanley V. Bye and Co.
Robin Harmar
Hon Treasurer
DEANERY SYNOD 2004
Prayer
has been a recurrent them this year, beginning with the Deanery Lent course,
held in
Deanery Synod Representative
Our
membership at the end of 2003 totaled 20 (including 3
part-time student members), and during 2004 we lost one young member but gained
another. Additionally
another of our members is now a student and so only available part-time. Our current
membership is therefore still 20, of which four are students or, living away
from Great Ayton. I
would still like to increase numbers further and if any members of the
congregation are interested in joining – especially youngsters – please come
and talk to me to discuss it.
2004
was another busy year – although the choir only sang at 6 weddings this year,
(one of these was at
Our
final commitments of the year were the 2 Carol Services at
Several
choir members have also made significant contributions to other services – most
notably at the summer services in All Saints Church.
Finally,
I would like to thank the choir for their continued hard work and dedication,
and also thank the congregation for their support and encouragement.
Chris B Thompson
Organist and Choirmaster
SERVERS REPORT
The
servers have diminished in number since the last report but still remain very
committed to assisting at Eucharistic services as and when they are required or
are available. The team consists of 9 people of varying ages both female and
male. The servers like the congregation are split between the 8.00am & the
9.30am services. Several doing other jobs on weeks that they are not on serving
duty. For this
reason it is difficult to prepare a rota that will allow them to serve at an
alternative service to that which they normally attend. There have been
volunteers that are and will soon be under going training. Hopefully all will
remain available and in time each will be confident enough to serve alone if
required. As is becoming the normal the additional Christmas services ware
particularly hectic but all services were covered. Like many previous servers reports
this one finishes with the annual statement that more volunteers are not only
required the will be whole-heartedly welcomed.
Head Server
FLOWER GUILD REPORT
The
Flower Guild was asked to arrange wedding flowers on only two occasions last
year; two other wedding parties chose to have professional florists. It is very
interesting to see the different designs produced by the professionals. It also
gives us ideas that we may be able to introduce in future! We do have several weddings on our
calendar for this year.
As
usual we have decorated the church throughout the year –introducing as many new
ideas as possible for the various major festivals-Easter, Harvest and
Christmas. We have enjoyed our workshop days when we do the bulk of the work in
comparative comfort—some of us have trouble with our backs!
At Harvest we brought out
We
made a lot of effort at Christmas with new arrangements for the windowsills. We
hope the children enjoyed our “Santa’s Wellies”(or they could be those of Good King Wenceslas”. We had
many compliments on the Christmas decorations so obviously our work was
appreciated. Thanks to those of you who were kind enough to make a donation
towards the cost.
Our next big effort is Easter which is coming up
very soon. We look forward to that.
Many thanks to all the ladies of the Flower Guild
who give so much of their time and energy to make the church look beautiful.
They are very reliable and supportive.
Thanks
again to Dorothy Tanfield who helps us whenever we need her.
I hope that we have
brought pleasure to all with our work last year.
Dulcie Jones
MOTHERS UNION REPORT
We
had a busy year, with a very varied programme. Mrs Roberta Ladds
was our first speaker, her talk being ‘My Wonderful Life’. She said it was a very busy life, but
an enjoyable one and said how she appreciated, and felt very privileged when she
had to attend special events with the Bishop, and meet so many different people. We heard about
several interesting incidents.
Mr
Colin Worswick, Chaplain to the Seafarers came to
speak and explain about his work at the mission. We asked why the name was changed? We were surprised
to learn, it was because there are now ladies in the crew of many ships and
they use the mission. He
invited us to go to visit Teesport. As a result, two parties went in
August. It was
most interesting and informative. The first day was fine and sunny and
we had a good tour round and were shown different ships and also had the Police
explain things to us. The
second tour was good but bad weather stooped them seeing all. We had coffee and biscuits and a very
nice lunch later. We
did meet a Russian lady whilst we were there. We have a number of members wanting to
go in 2005.
In
May we welcomed Mrs Betty Charlesworth, a former Diocesan President to our
meeting: she spoke of her hobby, lace making. Betty had brought much of her work to
show us: also the tools of the trade. She said how relaxing it was, but the
majority of us thought it seemed difficult.
In June Mrs Pearson from
The
village Fete was in June and we held a stall which as usual was a great
success, everyone appreciating value for money.
In
July members attended the Archdeanery Festival at
Northallerton. The
Venerable
In
August we had our outing to the Scottish Borders, despite the weather, it was
enjoyable. The
driver was very good and took us round the scenic route and off the main roads.
We had a very interesting afternoon in September
when Mrs Ivy Hynes came to tell us about her visit to
We
moved into Church for our October meeting due to workmen cutting the
electricity supply to the Hall. Miss Pippa
Holt came to speak about the North Air Ambulance. She gave us a good run down of how
North Air Ambulance had come about and how successful it has been, other areas
hoping to follow their success as a voluntary organisation. This was a very good meeting and we
were grateful to the Vicar for all his help, especially with the heating and
refreshments.
November
we collected for the Seafarers Christmas Appeal. On a very cold day we were in the
lounge doing boxes for them.
We had a good team going and 55 boxes were packed, all Christmas
wrapped and a good selection of things in each. They all like a to get a hat included. There were also
several bags of clothes for them. We did make one parcel up and marked
it ‘Lady’.
A
week later we had the collection for the Womens
Refuge, the response was overwhelming. Clothes, toys, bedding, towels gifts
etc: I had to ring them to come because I could not get into the bedroom. Thanks to all those
who kindly donated.
December
1st, 43 members and 8 husbands went to the Kings Head Newton for
lunch which was thoroughly enjoyable. December 3rd, we went to St
Timothy’s, Hemlington for the Deanery Carol Service. December 15th, we had a
lovely Carol Service prepared and led by the Vicar. Ladies from other Churches joined us
and we had refreshments in the lounge. December 21st several of us
joined the ‘Women Together’ for their Advent Service, followed by a lovely tea.
We had 2 new members admitted at our Lady Day Service
and one welcomed from another branch, and we have another three to become
members in 2005. We
attended the Refreshment Day at Hutton Rudby which
was led by Canon David Lickess: it was very inspiring. Sixteen members
went to York Minster in May for the Family Service.
We
donated £650 to Mothers Union projects, and gave £125 to the Parochial Hall. We had Two members die in 2004, Mrs Sheila Simpson and Mrs Marjorie
Swainson: they will be missed.
Thanks
to all who support and help us in any way, but especially to our Vicar Paul,
who is very supportive, especially when we go to Deanery and Diocesan events.
Laura Lamb
SUNDAY
MORNING COFFEE REPORT
The proceeds from the Sunday Coffee 2004 amounted
to £340. This included £100 from 2003. This amount is to be put towards Hall
funds. I would like to thank my fellow volunteers for making this possible. This event is
becoming increasingly popular and the lounge proves a great place to meet after
the 9:15 service. The
ladies who make and serve the refreshments, take it in turn each week. Holidays prove
difficult and therefore we are in need of more volunteers to help us at these
times.
I would also like to
thank the gentlemen who occasionally help us, especially with the washing up.
Pat Jeffery
SPIRE REPORT
As in previous years, ten
issues of Spire were produced during 2004, with a print run of 315 copies per
issue. Of
these, 220 were delivered to homes by a team of 17 distributors, headed by Jean
goat, and the remainder were placed for sale in Church. The amount paid over to the Treasurer
was £487.11.
We
continue to make every effort to keep the magazine informative, interesting and
entertaining, but welcome comments, suggestions and contributions! I am grateful to
those who have supplied articles and
information over the year,
not least to the Vicar, for his regular, lively pages.
I
would also express my thanks to Joan Rowland, who continues to undertake all
the copying, to Jean Goat, who assists with stapling and folding and looks
after home deliveries of the magazine, and to her team of distributors. Anyone wishing to
be added to the list for home deliveries should contact Jean on 01642 723274
Malcolm Race
Editor
SPIRE ONLINE REPORT
It
was back in 1993 when boredom with Questiontime got
the better of me one night, so I retreated into the study to play around with a
new programme for the computer. PagePlus Publishing
had just brought out a new version to transfer documents into PDF format to
send via email. Could it work with the Parish magazine?
The
answer was yes, and from often being a chore to do, now Spire became fun as you
could play colour and include photos, making it a whole lot more attractive.
Now
armed with a digital camera in my pocket, I am prepared for special occasions
and the Wedding Gallery is a regular feature. Photographers are getting used to
the vicar nipping in quick to get a shot. The magazine contains most pages of
the paper version, and all the jokes that Malcolm edits, plus the photos in
living colour.
Over
the months the distribution list has grown to ninety three copies, going to
Great Ayton, North Yorkshire,
As well as email delivery, Spire also features on the Parish
Website for visitors to download (www.christchurchgreatayton.org.uk)
It is a great way of keeping in touch
with what is going on.
If you would like to receive it, please email me at revpev@clergy.net
and I will add you to the list.
BELL
Seven young people continue to ring our bells,
voluntarily, on a regular basis. On behalf of the whole congregation I should
like to express our appreciation of their efforts, they don’t always want to
get up early on a Sunday morning!
Victoria Brown left us after eight years of ringing to read Geography at
Jennifer Mounsey left us after seven years and ten
months of ringing to read Medicine at
Andrew Nath left us after seven years and seven
months of ringing to read Medicine at
We thank all three of them for their loyal service
and wish them well in their future studies.
For your interest our current ringers are:-
Christopher Dale
Jonathan Land
Oliver Simmons
David Land
Fergus Roddy
Michael Brennan
Thomas Reevell
Since our last report the bells have rung for sixty-eight
regular Sunday services and festivals.
They have been booked for eight weddings, earning
pocket money for our more senior ringers (strong enough to keep going for the
extra time required), and covering the costs of our two-yearly service
contract, in place to keep the bells in good working order. The bells were serviced and
maintained, by Potts of Leeds, on 20/1/05 and the next service is due 2007.
We would warmly welcome new ringers. We have an
octave of Tubular Bells, rather than real bells, but it does mean the ropes are
very easy to learn. It is also another skill to put on UCAS
forms. Several of our ringers have been questioned about their Campanology
expertise at University interviews! If anyone is interested in joining us, it
takes very little of your spare time.
Please telephone Elsa Taylor on 722400 for more
information.
BIBLE
STUDY GROUP REPORT
The
Bible Study Group meets on a fortnightly basis to study God’s word and apply it
to our lives. This
year we have looked at the Book of Proverbs and discussed how its practical
wisdom is still very relevant to our 21st Century world –
recognising that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom” (Prov 1.8). More recently we have studied I Peter
and considered Peter’s teaching on hope and holiness, suffering and service.
We
have been delighted to welcome new members during the year with our average
attendance now being 10 – 12.
This term we are studying Judges – and if you are intrigued to
find out which story in Judges is in every pantry and how 42,000 died for want
of a speech therapist, do come and join us! The group is informal and friendly,
and the cakes are excellent.
Finally
a big thank you to Audrey Collins for hosting the group at Postchaise
Cottage.
For further details
contact
SUNDAY
SCHOOL REPORT
Sunday school meets each
Sunday during the 9.15 service except the 2nd Sunday of the month
when it is Family Service at 11am. During school
holidays we run a video club
instead of Sunday school.
We have seen our number increase this year from 25
to 47. It is lovely to see so many children in Church.
Activities are available from 9am for early
arrivals. We start with a service. The children take turns lighting the altar
candles, we change the colour of the cloth as in Church to teach the children
about Church colours and seasons. The service continues with our weekly story,
prayers, the peace and singing. We finish with a craft activity linked to the
story we have told.
The children go into Church for the end of the
service and show their crafts and tell the congregation what they have learnt.
This
year we started with the story of Epiphany and some of the parables Jesus told.
We spent the weeks leading up to Easter telling the story of Jesus in the
Wilderness, the
We
started in September with life of David followed by Solomon. The children
produced a new display on David’s life for the coffee lounge. This brought us
to Christmas and the stories that happened around Jesus birth.