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OVEREND METHODIST MISSION
Reports for the Annual General Meeting 24th May 2011
Page No.
Pastoral Letter – Rev David Alford 1
Stewards’ Report – Angus Alston 2
Worship –Margaret Bradley 2
Pastoral Committee – Rev David Alford 3
World Missions – Janet Jones 5
Social Responsibility – Margaret Bradley 6
Action for Children – Christine Homer 7
Sunday School – Debbie Westwood 7
Youth Club – Paul Westwood 10
Messy Church – Emma Alston 11
Youth Council – Laura Alston 12
Rainbows – Emma Alston 12
Brownies – Annette Bache 13
Guides – Sarah Bennett / Gemma Calder / Becky Nock 13
Darby and Joan – Annie Pearson 14
Church Website – Bill McBain 15
Guild – Pat Withers 16
Property – John Woodhouse/Angus Alston 16
PASTORAL LETTER Well here I am facing my last full year of my appointment from this Annual General Meeting to the next. So I look back with mixed feelings on the achievements of the last year and the journey over the last four years. There has been a transformation that the church has undertaken in recent years in not just the aesthetics of the church, but also the leadership and how we shape our worship and mission with the emphasis upon utilising the gifts of the membership within the church, the young and the experienced of our people. The leadership of the church now consists of the six stewards and the minister. This has meant that through Worship and outreach teams we have cut away the formal agenda and have been able to meet in fellowship and begin to forge a team which is still in a state of infancy, but that I feel will become more focussed and have a positive role for the church and its weekly operations with worship and fellowship. This has not been the only leadership initiative within the church. We have been aided in the process by a Youth Council which also now meets. All these things, various forms of leadership, worship, outreach teams and the Youth Council, aid the Church Council in its decision making here at Overend so moving the church into a future that not only realises our vision of church but what it is that God is saying to each of us here. The Sunday School continues to grow and provide nurture of our young disciples. Youth club continues to provide a much needed source of activities and friendship for young people in a safe environment. This year we have also seen the start of ‘Messy Church’ one Tuesday each month. This has been well attended and supported by many within the church and great enjoyment has been had by all. We give thanks and pray for all our leaders and helpers that work in these activities with the young people. On behalf of the church ‘Thank you’. The Darby & Joan continue to meet and will be celebrating their 60th Anniversary with a service on the evening of 3rd July and followed by a lunch on the 13th July. We congratulate them upon their service and fellowship throughout the years. However the Luncheon club sadly finished during this year with a meal of celebration on 9th December. It had provided a source of fellowship and enjoyment to many over the years. We thank all who were involved with the Luncheon Club and a special thank you to Tony Wildboar and his team for the stewardship over the last years of the group. The uniformed organisations, Guides, Brownies and Rainbows continue to meet regularly and we thank their leaders and helpers for their hard work and commitment in an age of computers to continue to bring children together with a sense of service to an organisation and community. Playzone this year has increased its time to five days a week and is starting to show signs of future growth. We acknowledge and give thanks to Alison and her staff in Playzone and their work with pre-school children and their families. The Guild continues to meet in the memory of Muriel Woodhouse who along with Pat Withers founded it here at Overend. It continues to attract an interesting array of speakers to the fellowship. We remember in thanksgiving Muriel contribution to Overend and hope the Guild continues to be a fitting tribute to her memory. On a sad note we recall the funerals that have taken place of members and adherents of Overend in Pam Green, Fred Roden, Doreen Sanger, Jack Deeley, Darren Burgess, Nora Hill, Muriel Woodhouse, Irving Billingham, and May Guest. We give thanks for their witness and service to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and so we continue to pray and support their families. It has been a year of change and development, one that gives hope for the future, but one which we have to develop with a prayerful discernment that the way forward is the route which God is leading us to, one which we walk together with God as our focus. God bless you all
Rev. David Alford
STEWARDS' REPORT In September, with the approval of the church council, we restructured the leadership of the church. We have replaced the leadership team with smaller groups focused on specific areas of church life. We have developed both a worship team and an outreach team in order to provide an opportunity for people with enthusiasm in these areas to come on board. The Worship report illustrates the many and varied acts of worship that have been carried out in the past year. The outreach team is still in its infancy, but is beginning to develop some new ideas. The stewards continue to meet with the minister on a regular basis. Last September, after completing her term as a circuit steward, we welcomed Pat Withers as a new church steward. After many years service Sandra Callard is stepping down, and we thank Sandra for the commitment she has shown to the role of church steward over the years. We continue to be inspired by the commitment of our young people to their church and we are, as ever, extremely grateful to the leaders who offer so much of their time and energy in this important ministry. We congratulate the Sunday School on their fundraising efforts in their Water of Life Project, especially their 18 mile sponsored walk around the circuit. We wish them well in their new project to raise fund for Oakfield House. This past year has seen the start of our Messy Church outreach initiative. On your behalf I would like to thank all those involved in leading this project, which can only continue with the help of a significant number of volunteers. We pray that God will continue to bless all our church’s work with children, young people and their families. I would also like to echo David’s vote of thanks to Tony and all the others who have helped to run the Luncheon club, over the years. We also give thanks that yet another of our members, Emma Alston, has requested a note to preach and we pray that God will guide her as she tests this call.. Angus Alston
WORSHIP Churches exist for the public worship of God and the recent introduction of a Worship Committee, made up of our seven Local Preachers and others, helps to ensure that our diverse congregation has the opportunity to respond to God in a variety of ways. In addition to observing the major Christian festivals we also try to recognise other designated Sundays. Since last May these have included Action for Children Sunday, Harvest, All Saints’ Day, Remembrance Sunday, Prisons Sunday, Covenant Sunday, Education Sunday, Mothering Sunday and World Church Sunday, which took the form of an African communion led by Rev Paul Nzacahayo and our African members in the morning and a presentation on Rwanda by Rev John Howard, District Chairman, at night. Guest preachers that have been invited over the past 12 months have included Lee Milligan from Youth For Christ, retired URC minister Rev Ernest Cruchley, Rev Brian Brown from South Africa, Gracewell Mansa from Zambia, Rev Kara Cooper and members of Birmingham University Methsoc. We also make sure that there are opportunities for All-age worship and All-age communion. Some of these services are led by our own worship group, Intermission. In the autumn Matt Pritchard, Christian Stage Magician of the Year, led a service on the theme ‘Who or what do we put our trust in?’ Our church is unique in the Circuit in having the Sunday school present for the first 15 minutes of worship led by a Minister/Local Preacher. We hope that this will continue as it is valuable in enabling young people to experience worship, prayer and praise in a wider context, rather than seeing themselves as members of a separate group, whose members cease to attend when they have grown too old for Sunday School. Despite a growing tendency for churches to cease having evening services we continue to hold them every Sunday so that those who are unable to attend on a morning because of work or family commitments, or because they go out with the Sunday School, can worship at night. If you are not in the practice of attending on a Sunday evening we would like to encourage you to do so. We manage to maintain an attendance of around 22 for a traditional style of worship, increasing up to 80+ for other formats, which attract newcomers and visitors. It has been particularly good to see the way in which the Sunday school teachers have encouraged the young people to take part in some of these. Examples of the different services include worship in the Celtic tradition; in the Taize style; two Songs of Praise services, at one of which members of St Peters’ Church joined us, preceded by a tea; two interactive Café Sundae services; a service of commemoration of those who have died; a community service that celebrated the Centenary of the Cradley Women Chainmakers’ strike; a visit from the Voices in Harmony Choir in Advent and from Halesowen Choral Society on Passion Sunday; and a service of readings and anthems to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible. The facilities to project visual images in our worship have also been imaginatively utilised. The bad weather around Christmas meant that many churches felt that they had to abandon their services. We did not close, although attendances were lower than normal. The introduction of an additional Christmas Eve Service at 6.00 pm proved to be popular with a number of young families and it is hoped that this might become a regular feature. In the absence of any united services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and early Easter morning, we arranged a Passover Meal and celebration of Christ’s Last Supper, a Good Friday afternoon act of meditation entitled ‘The Seven Last Words of Jesus’, and an early Easter morning communion service followed by breakfast. It was gratifying that all of these attracted people who are not regular members of our congregation. A form has been prepared so that people can express any comments they would like to make on aspects of our worship. These will be looked at in regard to planning future services. Prayer meetings take place each month, sometimes at lunchtime and sometimes on an evening, led by Rev David or one of the Local Preachers. The lunchtime prayers are preceded by soup and sandwiches and in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we were joined by some people from St Peter’s Anglican Church. A wide variety of formats are used, including the more formal orders of evening prayer and Iona prayer, non-liturgical meditative, contemplative styles and extempore prayer. On the warmest evening of the summer a large number of people took part in a prayer walk over Foxcote and Oldnall. Individuals use the Annual Methodist Prayer Manual for their private devotions, as well as the weekly prayer on the notice sheet. Attractive booklets, produced by the Methodist Church, on Christmas, Easter and Glimpses of the Word, have been distributed. Three courses of Bible Studies have been held. In the summer Margaret Bradley led an introductory course on the Bible. An autumn session was led by different local ministers on topics of their own choice. We were invited to join members at Providence for the York Lent Course. As someone said, ‘We’ve had some cracking services this year at Overend’. We trust that this will continue to be the case.
Pastoral Committee Letter This letter follows on from our previous year with a membership of 104 reported at our last AGM. The Pastoral Committee continues to meet, and we last met on Tuesday 8th February 2011 when we reported that through the passing of Pam Green, Fred Roden, Jack Deeley, Nora Hill, Muriel Woodhouse, Irving Billingham and May Guest, all dear members of this church, and through transfer and cessation of membership of people no longer attending our church to the community roll, it was then recorded that our current membership is 91. There has again been a restructuring within the committee of pastoral classes and their leaders following the sad loss of class leader Muriel Woodhouse, who served this committee well and is missed within this group as well as the church life in general. There are currently 11 classes, with leaders having pastoral care for a set group of members. These class leaders along with the church stewards and the minister form the Pastoral Committee. This however does not mean that the responsibility of pastoral visiting solely resides with this group. If there are any of our members who wish to become a class leader to help share in the tasks of pastoral care within the church please see a steward or myself and we will be more than happy to welcome new class leaders and allocate members for visits. It is the life of the church to share together in love, so we love one another and care for each other. We give thanks to our class leaders and the work they do in taking Christ’s love and care to members who are finding life a little hard or who just need a friendly chat and fellowship with a friend. We pray for all our membership and those who make important visits offering the hand of friendship and Christ.
WORLD MISSIONS REPORT 2009 - 10 The year from September 2009 until August 20010 again saw various events linking us to other parts of the world. We observed Racial Justice Sunday in September when we remembered injustice in our world, especially racial injustice. The Sunday School took as their project for the year to provide a Ugandan village with a well to give them clean water. They started the year with a ‘Sound of Music’ sing-a-long and this together with a Spring Fayre and a sponsored walk which was 18 miles long visiting all the churches in our circuit raised enough money to provide two villages with clean water. World Church Sunday saw Rev George Wauchope from the Anglican Church of South Africa, who is a tutor in World Mission Education at the Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham and Helene Nzacahayo. As you are aware we are a Fairtrade Church and have a Traidcraft stall each Sunday morning. Please continue to support this as it enables us to contribute to various industries and farms around the world giving them a fair wage and a better standard of living.
The amount raised by this Church through donations, boxes, JMA etc is as follows:- Christmas Post Box £ 32.00 World Missions Envelopes £ 108.24 Boxes & Donations £ 70.20 JMA £ 141.82 Donation from Church £ 770.00 TOTAL £ 1122.26 Janet Jones – World Missions Secretary
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FAIRTRADE products are used when we serve refreshments after services and at social events. We thank Sandra Callard for looking after the Fairtrade stall on a Sunday morning and encourage more people to buy goods from her. STOURBRIDGE FOOD BANK has continued to benefit from groceries and money donated by members here. Our thanks go to John Withers, who transports them to Chawn Hill. A list of suitable items is at the rear of the church by the basket for your donations. INTERFAITH ACTIVITES included a women’s visit to the Darul Barakaat Mosque in Birmingham at the invitation of the women Muslims who meet at the Baitul Mahdi Mosque in Cradley Heath. Questions were invited and food shared with this group whose theme is ‘Love for All, Hatred for None.’ The church is represented on the Dudley Interfaith Committee and some attended the counter demonstration that was organised when the English Defence League visited Dudley. The church is also represented on the HALESOWEN JUSTICE GROUP, and members met local MP James Morris to discuss concerns about some government policies. CHRISTMAS GIFTS were sent to Charles House Home for children with disabilities, where Belinda works. The AMNESTY CHRISTMAS CARD CAMPAIGN was supported by church members sending messages of hope and solidarity to people facing human rights abuses around the world. VALLEY COURT RESIDENTIAL HOME appreciates the short monthly services that we take there, which are attended by around 20 residents. We have changed our day and time to the third Wednesday in each month from 10.45 am and anyone who is free is welcome to come along. At Christmas we also went to sing carols at Compton Grange. DONATIONS have been made to the METHODIST RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT FUND. At Harvest-time £985.62 was sent and a further £250 in response to the Pakistan Flood appeal. Some members also purchased alternative Christmas gifts. We are delighted that our young people choose to raise money for a particular cause each year and commend them for being able to present a cheque for £1500 for MRDF’s Ugandan well appeal to Gracewell Mwansa when he came to conduct worship here in October. The Good Friday collection of £105 was given to the MEDICAL AID FOUNDATION FOR VICTIMS OF TORTURE. £20 was sent to the AIDS TRUST. WHITE POPPIES were available to purchase and representatives placed a wreath of RED POPPIES on our behalf on the Cenotaph at St Luke’s Church Cradley Heath.
COPIES OF ‘YOURS’
MAGAZINE are
available for you to pick up, priced £1.40. Please give your money
to Gordon Woodhouse or a steward. Margaret Bradley
Action For Children
This charity began in 1869 and in September 2008 was renamed Action For Children to reflect who they are and what they do. Action For Children Sunday is an opportunity to remember, give thanks and pray for the continuing work and recognise the support given to this charity by Methodists all over the UK. This is usually recognised by an envelope collection and in 2011 this will be on the 11th July.
August/September is the annual collection of Action For Children Collecting Boxes. We currently have 17 people who contribute in this way. If anyone else would like a box to collect at your workplace or home, please request one. More than 90p in every pound goes directly towards work with children and their families. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service collections are donated to Action For Children along with any carol singing donations. Money collected in the year 2010 is as follows: 2010 2009 AFC Sunday Envelopes £120.00 £ 90.00 Collecting Boxes £264.46 £242.05 Christmas Collections £329.83 £249.50 __________________________________________________ Total £714.29 £ 581.55 There is also an annual circuit Cream Tea event which in 2010 raised £1154.00. This year the event will be held on the 25th June at Amblecote/ Wordsley Methodist Church.
Christine Homer.
Sunday School
Classes Membership 2008/09 2009/10 Creche 10 (7 regular) 7 (4 regular) Deb 5 (4 regular) 8 (5 regular) Judith 3 (2 regular) 4 (3 regular) Emma 10 (9 regular) 12 (10 regular) Total 28 (22 regular) 31 (22 regular)
This year saw a number of young people move from crèche into Deb’s class. We have also been pleased to welcome three new members, one through links with youth club, one through leaflets delivered by the church to the new estate across the road and one following the chain maker’s service. It is through out reach into the community that we can continue to grow. As well as the numbers listed above we have had a number of people come with friends or attend with parents for special services. It is encouraging that the young people feel comfortable to invite friends to join them. Finances We currently have £1248.78 in the money manager account and £788.20 in the community account. This includes £819.50 raised so far for this year’s project and £260.00 payments for the weekend away. This leaves £957.48 to spend. The accounts are audited annually by the church. Again we were pleased with the donations made by members at the Sunday School Anniversary and this continues to allow us to do our work without worrying about fund raising so concentrating on other areas. Staffing All the Sunday School teachers have up to date CRB checks. This year Emma took a note to preach, Jan Brennan and Shirley Hollingsworth are covering her class when she has preaching appointments. Rich is having a break from Sunday School but we thank him for the years of assistance he offered to both Debbie and Emma with their classes, he certainly kept Debbie sane at some difficult times. In Elliot’s words Belinda is our ‘music lady’. Belinda and Nicki both continue to support the Sunday School both musically and for media. This has extended from the usual Christmas and Anniversary services to the recent evening Café Services and Youth Services. Their hard work enriches the young people’s worship and the services we can offer in church. Highlights of the past year · Easter Crafts on Good Friday · Youth Council are meeting regularly · Anniversary 2010, and by the time you read this hopefully you will have enjoyed this years Anniversary. · Weekend Away to Criccieth July 2010 · Karting · Café Services · Raised £1500 for the MRDF Water Project to provide two wells in developing countries and presented the cheque to Mr Gracewell Mwansa · A number of young people attended Youth Assembly November 2010 · Young People’s Carol Service · Sing Along Wizard of Oz Jan 2011 for the new people’s project for Autistic Adults in Birmingham · Spring Fair March 2011 for the project · Sleep over at Amblecote on 12 March 2011 · District Ski Trip – March 2001
Future Activities
Circuit Events · Sports Day and BBQ – Stourbridge July 2010 · Christmas Ball – at Brierley Hill November 2010
We continue to attend the regular YELLL meetings and encourage the young people to attend the events which have been organised. Over the past year we have continued to develop our work with young people in other churches, especially those at Brierley Hill and Amblecote and Wordsley. Aims for Next Year:
The work outlined in this report has only been made possible through: · the dedication of the teachers · the enthusiasm and dedication of the young people · the support received from the church members both assisting with events, financially and through prayer · the support of the families throughout the year
For all of this we are very grateful and pray for the continued work in the year to come.
Debbie Westwood
Overend Youth Club
Core Team Members Emma Alston, Jan Brennan & Paul Westwood Treasurer Richard Homer Other Helpers Debbie Westwood, Sandra Callard, Shirley Hollingsworth, Judith Ramsay, Richard Homer & John Callard We recently asked on our news letter for an additional male member to help out. We would like to thank John Callard for stepping forward. Offer from one step forward campaign Judith Tyler Date Youth Club held - Friday Nights from 7.00pm to 8.30pm Cost - £1.00 per week but the first week is free Age Range - 11 to 16 Years We started the Youth Club on the 22nd June 2007 and now have 91 members on our register with an average attendance each week of 30-40 young people. The young people are asked to sign a ‘code of conduct’ which is basically a few rules that we expect the young people to agree to and show respect for. The young people are also given a form to take home which is an ‘Individual Record and Consent Form’. This form gives the leaders contact information for the young person in case of an emergency. Also, they are asked to sign a consent form for photographs to be taken and used for promotion of the church. Activities Offered PS3, Xbox 360’s, WII, PS2s, Table Tennis, Table Football, Music, Board Games, Tuck Shop, Badminton, Football, Cooking, Crafts, Theme nights and we are adding all the time. We have had different crafts throughout the year. Outreach
Finances – as of April 2011 Youth club donation to church for use of premises in 2010 = £500 Finances on 25/04/11 @ £1,513.87 CRB Checks All the helpers have been CRB checked Aims for this year · To continue to develop links with the young people attending. · To continue to provide a safe environment for the young people to meet.
Paul Westwood
Messy Church We launched this new outreach initiative to families in June 2010. We meet once a month, on Tuesdays, 3.30pm-5.30pm. Pre-school & primary school age children attend and are accompanied by an adult. We start with games and refreshments, and then have a crafty time, before going into church for a story, a song & a prayer. Then we all have tea together before we go home. Every session has a theme and our themes this year have been: Abraham & Sarah, Joseph & his brothers, Harvest, Moses, Joshua, Christmas, Creation, Noah’s Ark, Lent, Easter and Bible Mountains. Over the last 12 months 44 different children have attended Messy Church. Some of our Sunday School members bring their friends along. We have a fantastic team of leaders: Madeline Blunt, Enid Billingham, Betty Corey, Laura Alston, Jon Scarrett, Clare Wood, Helen Thorpe, Sheila Crofts, Joan Keightley, Margaret & Keith Steven & Pat Withers. Pryce Nzacahayo and Tony Wildboar also help out occasionally and the parents/carers are always willing to ‘muck in’. Emma Sanger has just volunteered to join the team and we are delighted to have her on board. Messy Church is a ’new way of being church’ that works better for some families than what we offer on a Sunday.– it is church in its own right and not a ‘stepping stone’ to Sunday worship – although of course, we would be delighted if any of our ‘Messy Churchers’ wanted to join us on Sunday.
Emma Alston
Youth Council The Youth Council is made up of members of the Sunday school and we aim to meet a couple of weeks before each church council. Our chair is Chris Nzacahayo, our secretary is Laura Alston, and our 2 church council reps are Sam Tipton and Pryce Nzacahayo. At our meetings we discuss things such as:
We feel very grateful to be taken seriously as members of the church, and to have this opportunity to let our opinions be heard. Laura Alston
Rainbows We have had another busy year doing lots of activities including:
We currently have 11 Rainbows. A number of Rainbows also come along to Messy Church and 3 of our Rainbows attend Sunday School. We charge subs of £1.30 per week. Sandra and Emma will be stepping down as Rainbows leaders this year after 20 years and 10 years service respectively. However we are delighted that from September, Clare Wood will take over the leadership of the unit and has even managed to twist a friend’s arm to help her. Sandra and I are delighted to be passing on the mantle to such a safe pair of hands, as we had feared that the unit might have to close. We are very grateful to everyone at church who donated their Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers to Rainbows – we were able to obtain a voucher to allow us to obtain food items from Sainsbury’s for free, and also a cheer leading kit, which the girls really enjoy using.
Emma Alston
2nd CRADLEY BROWNIES We have had an enjoyable year. In January we went to the Startime Variety Pantomime, this was enjoyed by all. In February we had a man come to our meeting and bring some owls that he rescued. He also talked to the Brownies about the owls and how to look after them. They Brownies were very interested and enjoyed being able to hold and stoke the owls. We had a very successful pack holiday at Dodford in April. The Brownies were able to earn their circus skills badge, as we had a woman come in and show them many circus skills. We were also able to have a camp fire, where we sang songs and toasted marshmallows. In May we held a sponsored silence for children with leukaemia, where we raised over £200. In June we took to the Brownies bowling and in November went to see Disney on Ice. At Christmas we went to hunt for Santa on a Birmingham canal barge. We have taken many badges as a pack, e.g. Disability Awareness: for part of this badge the Brownies learnt sign language. Fire safety badge: where we visited Cradley Heath Fire Station. We also did Home Safety and Agility badge. We have made various crafts. Snowman biscuits, snowstorms, made cakes and also pizza and covered apples in chocolate. We have grown mustard and cress in decorated egg shells, plus many more. We have also had rounders and quiz nights.
Annette Bache
2nd Cradley Guides annual report 2010.
January We started off our centenary year by making birthday cakes. Working towards our adventure 100 badge we had a pamper night and a Bhangra night. We learnt how to dance Bhangra and sampled Indian food.
February In February we made pancakes and our young leader Becky gave us crafts to do during her evening. We also participated in the district Thinking day service.
March During March we had a patrol night and made mother’s day presents and cards. We also made Easter bonnets and had a races themed evening. Our races evening involved a Easter bonnet parade, games of marbles, making cocktails and having an indoor picnic.
April In April we made carnival masks to wear at the centenary carnival which was held at Drayton Manor. We all had a good day out there.
May We had a Guides got talent/x-factor evening where each patrol organised a short play/dance etc. The winners received a prize. We also did some cooking.
June In June we had a camp skills night and made father’s day presents and cards. We also went to HD100, a centenary camp, at Blackwell Court in Bromsgrove. It was an excellent camp despite the weather being very cold!
July During July we had a BBQ and went to the local park for the evening. We ended the term by holding a party.
September In September we baked fairy cakes and did our confectioner badge. Our young leader made photo albums with us.
October We spent October working towards our party planner badge. The party we organised was a centenary finale party and we invited ex-guiders to join in the fun. We also took part in vision at the Cornbow in Halesowen where we all re-made our promises on 20/10/10 at 20:10.
November In November we cooked camp donuts outside to celebrate bonfire night. We also made advent calendars and had a patrol night.
December In December we made Christmas tree cookies and had a Christmas themed party to end the term. We also participated in the annual district carol service.
We currently have 19 Guides, 1 young leader and 2 adult leaders.
The Christmas party was my last meeting for a while as I finished to start my maternity leave. Liz Tromans and Jo Mitchell have kindly volunteered to cover for me whilst I’m away and I’m pleased to say baby Evie arrived safely on 26th January 2011. I am hoping to return to Guides at some point in the summer.
Sarah Bennett, Gemma Mallinson and Becky Nock.
DARBY AND JOAN CLUB
In July the Cradley Heath Darby and Joan Club, which originally met at Grainger’s Lane, is celebrating its 60th Anniversary with a meal on Wednesday 6 July and a service led by Rev David Alford at 6.00 pm on Sunday 3 July. The club held its first meeting on 8 July 1951 and is one of a few such independently run groups for older people that have survived in this area. We meet on Wednesday afternoons from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm and we have a varied range of entertainment, with refreshments, for a group of around 24 women and men. This is much smaller than the membership of 80 that celebrated the 40th Anniversary, but it continues to provide enjoyment for those that do attend. As the members have grown older some now feel that the time has come for them to relinquish their offices. We thank Ivy Morgan acting as Treasurer. John Bailey has agreed to take over from her, with Julie Bate organising the raffles. We’re glad that Betty Johnson has agreed to continue in the capacity of Secretary. We also thank Joyce Unitt for acting as the Leader of the meeting. This will now be done by Annie Pearson, Kath Homer and Margaret Bradley. We thank Geoff Totney for playing the piano. Finally, but by no means least, we appreciate the way that Les Jenks has faithfully organised our weekly refreshments. If any of the church members feel that they could offer to come along to help make the tea on an occasional basis we would be very grateful. At the beginning of the year it looked as though the club would be closing after the Anniversary celebrations, but we are trying to keep it going for a little while longer. The club would like to thank the church for all the help they have received since they have moved here.
Annie Pearson.
CHURCH WEBSITE REPORT A church website should, I believe, serve three primary purposes:
A total of
50 people receive our Newsletter by email each week, an increase of
3 over the number reported in last year’s annual report.
Next Steps I would remind members that as the church’s webmaster I am not the arbiter of what goes online; as they would say in ‘Yes Minister’ I am merely a humble functionary!! For this reason can I actively encourage all to take a leaf out of Messy Church’s book? They meet monthly, and monthly I get a report, photographs, slideshow etc and told what to put on their page of the website! I would ask others to do similar. Do not be constrained by what we currently have!!
Bill McBain
THE GUILD The loss of our founder and organiser of the Guild, Muriel Woodhouse, came as a great shock to everyone. Muriel was committed to the Guild in every way and spent a great deal of time and energy looking for speakers and ideas for activities she hoped everyone would enjoy. She will remain in our memories as a good friend and a wise counsellor. The Guild meets on the first Wednesday of the month. It aims to provide a varied programme of worship, entertainment and speakers on a variety of subjects. Most of our speakers come from within our church community but we also welcome speakers from the local area. In the summer we met in the garden at Barr’s Road. The Christmas party was cancelled due to bad weather and a party was held in the New Year. Everyone enjoyed the strawberries in the garden and the games and fellowship. A good time was had by all. In the next few months we look forward to Annette speaking on Chainmaking, our local counsellor on her work in the Cradley area, and our traditional Strawberries in the Garden transferred to Kingswinford. We are always looking for speakers and suggestions for activities, so if you have an idea, please speak to Pat or Stella. We close our meetings with tea or coffee and cake or biscuits and the opportunity for conversation between friends. Come and join us, everyone is assured of a warm welcome at our meetings.
Pat Withers
Property The church property committee meets to maintain the upkeep of the church building and grounds. This year improvements have consisted of : The installation of new driveway lighting, with the addition of automatic sensors to follow. Chair rails installed in the meeting room to prevent wall damage with a new notice board also installed. Notice boards installed at the front and rear to better highlight Church events.
Angus Alston / John Woodhouse
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