THE MAY FAYRE
will be held
on Saturday 17 May 10am-12noon in the Meeting Room at St Michael’s.
There will be bedding plants, cakes (donations gratefully received),
books/bric-a-brac and of course coffee and biscuits. Please come
along and support us and bring a friend if possible.
Yvonne Kirton (824806)
IRIS THOMPSON RIP
Iris, who died
recently, will be remembered as a colourful character in the Town.
She worked for many years as a Primary School Teacher, was a member
of the Church Choir and the shining light of the Church Recorder
Group, where she taught children and “retired teenagers” to play the
recorder. In her life she had walked the Great Wall of China,
travelled extensively making many friends with Girl Guiding
connections, learned to pilot a glider, rode (and serviced) her own
motorcycle for many years, and rode her pony, Sparky, all the way to
Dartmoor and back—to mention just a few of her exploits. Finally,
she coined a new expression, exclaiming quite frequently that she
“had a dreadful forgettory”, which is a word now being used in our
family!
Brenda Slade
Iris had a beautiful name, which is Greek for “Rainbow”. (The same
word is used to mean the coloured part of the eye.) A colourful
character indeed! She certainly had a kaleidoscopic life of many
and varied experiences. The idea of riding actually to travel, to
get somewhere, as our forebears did, is wonderful. That doesn’t
happen much these days!
Iris was the
first person to call on us at the Vicarage when we moved to Verwood
in 2000. A lovely lady, sadly missed. (Julie S)
THE PALLET SCALES SEVEN
had their end-of-effort weigh-in in the Meeting Room at St Michael’s
on Easter Sunday. Between them they have shed an amazing 58.5
kilos (or 51 according to other sources—whatever!) and are now only
shadows of their former selves. The £2,000 (and counting—including
Gift Aid element) which they managed to raise is a heavyweight
success however. Yayy! and Whooo!! If you sponsored them but have
not paid your donation yet please make your cheque payable to
“Verwood PCC”. Half of the amount raised will go to the Church’s
100 Challenge and the remainder to the British Red Cross.
During the weekend of 4 July
we will be
entertaining two Bishops from the Sudan, Bishop Peter from Yambio
and Bishop Isaac, Assistant Bishop from Rumbeck, who are coming for
the Lambeth Conference. They will both have their wives with them.
On
Friday evening 4 July
we will be
entertaining Bishop Peter and his wife in Verwood. The Home Groups
have kindly offered to put on a barbecue at Duncan Moss's home.
Please put the date in your diary and try to join us during the
evening.
On Sunday 6 July
there will be
a deanery service in Wimborne Minster at 6.30 pm.
Yvonne
ALL SAINTS SPRING SUPPER
On Saturday April 5th the family of All Saints Church enjoyed their
Spring Supper and were joined by many of the St Michael’s church
family. Once again it was a very successful evening and our thanks
go to David and Vivienne Veevers for spearheading* the catering for
us. The evening finished with amusing readings and a song given by
Andrew Sinclair, our Vicar.
ANNUAL REPORT
Donations
Donations
Total Planned Giving (envelopes and standing orders) and Visitor
Gift Aided donations, are
down
on last year by approximately
£3,500.
Gift Aid
During 2007 we received Gift Aided donations from 159 Church
registered donors, plus 104 one off donations mainly from visitors.
The total reclaimed from the taxman for Gift Aided donations added
£17,350 to our income however this is down by £1,103 on last year.
In April 2008 due to tax changes, the tax we recover will reduce
by approximately £2000 over a full year, putting even more strain on
our finances.
Thanksgiving
This vital
campaign (last undertaken 2 years ago as the Stewardship campaign),
is essential to encourage us all to increase our Giving, necessary
to help us to meet our financial commitments. Approximately 250
Thanksgiving letters were sent out, asking us all to review and if
possible increase our Giving. Thank-you to those 64 people who
replied and their responses were as follows:
23
increased their Donations.
34 felt unable to increase their Donations.
3 review their Donations annually and had already increased their
Giving.
4 were new Donors.
We also received £270 in one off Donations.
The total yearly increase from the Thanksgiving campaign is £2852,
so a big thank-you to everyone who has increased their Donations
Bank Change
All
donations by Standing Order are now changed to the CAF Bank
Annual Gift Aid plea, if you pay tax even if you only pay it on Bank
or Building Society interest and haven’t yet registered, please
register for Gift Aid. Contact me or the Parish Office and I can
call round and complete a form with you, or post one to you. No
personal financial details are wanted, just a signature on a form
advising that you pay tax. All details retained by me are kept in
strict confidence.
Finally, a big thank-you to all Donors for your generous support
over the year.
Andrew Green Donations Secretary
Ladies Group
In January 2007
we began the year with a Games night. You know the sort of thing,
Memory Tray, Beetle Drive, Marbles in plant pots, Dominoes, Bingo,
Shove Ha’penny, lots of other board games that you used to play,
even Snakes and Ladders.
I was away on
holiday for most of February and March so I missed the Valentines
memories and also the Lent Lunches. This was also the month for our
Coffee Morning to raise funds for the start of the Lent Lunches, as
always it was well supported and set us off to a good start.
March was a
very busy month for us, Ro Green took on the organising and the
lunches were very good. 4 lunches were held in the Parish Centre and
the girls visited Hillside School twice and Trinity School once,
also the lunches were taken out to Emmanuel Middle School, this was
a great success and we hope to repeat it this year. The First School
attended as usual. We raised a fair amount of money for our
charities including the USPG in Malawi and the Dorset Air Ambulance,
MIND, The Play Group, Emmau Sudan Bicycles, Tracy Ann House Youth
Cancer Trust, Verwood Stroke Club and The Peoples Community Centre,
Natal. Well done to those who worked so hard and also to those who
supported us. I say this each year but as we all know time marches
on and we do still need help as many of us in The Ladies Group are
getting a little bit too old to keep up this hard work for five long
weeks.
The next part
of our programme included our Dinner Night when Carol Sampson came
to talk about The Children’s Society. We really enjoyed her talk as
she was able to tell us how she first became involved and how she
and her husband were first introduced to their adopted son. It was a
very moving talk. We then had our challenge night, which this time
was to decorate a spoon. The winner was Jenny McDonald with a little
Dutch girl. Well done to all who took part, we had 14 entries.
In July we had
the Ramble and BBQ this year again at the home of Margaret and Raj.
The food was cooked by Raj and Derrick and the accompanying Salads
and Puddings made by the Girls. It was a great evening although it
turned a little cold.There was the usual break in August and we set
off the year with more food at the AGM.
In October we
had a fun quiz questions mainly from previous Mothers Union quizzes.
In November at
the Bazaar we did our usual Bottle tombola and raised over £100.00
thanks to the generous donations of the group. Then at our meeting
we had an entertaining talk by Mary Randal MBE from the Salvation
Army. What an amazing lady, she washes the feet of many homeless
people who attend the Soup Run and she provides clean socks for
them. We were able to donate socks and some warm clothing to help
her in her work.
We rounded off
the year with readings and carols and once again food. We look
forward to another good year in 2008 If you want a pleasant evening
on the 2nd Wednesday of the month why not join us, we are quite
friendly
The next part
of our programme included our Dinner Night when Carol Sampson came
to talk about The Children’s Society. We really enjoyed her talk as
she was able to tell us how she first became involved and how she
and her husband were first introduced to their adopted son. It was a
very moving talk. We then had our challenge night, which this time
was to decorate a spoon. The winner was Jenny McDonald with a little
Dutch girl. Well done to all who took part, we had 14 entries.
Jenny Bass, Leader
Playgroup
Playgroup meet
on Mondays and Fridays between 9-30 and 11-30 term time, for
children between 2 and 3 years of age, and on a Wednesday supplying
Crèche facilities for Young Families.
Playgroup is
registered with OFSTED to accept 24 children for each session with a
staff ratio of 1 – 3 in accordance with the National Standards for
Childcare Registration.
2007 was a
special year for playgroup as we celebrated our 20th
birthday in the Parish Centre with a photographic exhibition of
children we have cared for through the years. Parents, staff,
volunteers and past pupils were invited to attend and reminisce
about their time at St; Michael’s. Interviews were also broadcast
on the local radio, Forest FM and pictures printed in the local
papers.
Throughout the
year staff have put in lots of extra time in fundraising to keep the
group viable without having to raise fees. Events included selling
second-hand books at the rustic fayre; a Christmas Craft coffee
morning ; a teddy bear’s picnic and several coffee mornings, giving
parents and church members a opportunity to meet and chat over
coffee. Funds were also raised by Pete Weaver’s entry in the London
Marathon. Playgroup has also raised funds for St. Michael’s and the
Don McMath foundation.
This year we
have be especially touched by the generosity of Orchard Day Nursery,
The Dorset Health Foundation and Verwood Opportunity Group for
donations that have enabled us to offer assisted places to children
whose families struggle financially, a training fund for staff to
be able to attend courses to upgrade their qualifications, and to
replace children’s toys and equipment.
Congratulations
go to Kathy Walton qualifying to NVQ 3, Nettie Hambleton to NVQ2,
Caroline Thomas to NVQ3 and Marion Beard to Foundation Degree .
Our end of term
services for parents and families in church have been a great
success with the help of Noah’s Ark Puppets. These occasions fill
the church giving clergy and staff the opportunity to welcome and
encourage parents to attend additional services such as Networks.
Our Christmas
Nativity in church, followed by a visit from Santa, became another
memorable occasion, and our thanks to all the staff and particularly
Norman for being Santa again this year.
Our thanks go
to the PCC for allowing us the use of the Parish Centre at a
reasonable rental, and especially to the staff and volunteers, who
always work so hard to ensure the children are safe, happy and well
cared for.
Marion Beard and Caroline Thomas Playgroup Leaders
Servers
The
Serving Team have continued to give faithful service in 2007 in
spite of being few in number. Most Sundays someone has to cover two
duties and we would all be delighted if there were more people to
help, especially at the 9.30am. service. The duties are not onerous
so if anyone is interested in knowing more, please speak to Marion
Mouland
Marion Mouland
Mothers’ Union
We are a very
happy and busy group. This year we have celebrated Alec and Renee
Monks 65th
Wedding Anniversary and Don and Barbara Cook’s 50th
Wedding Anniversary. Sadly we lost Molly Rogers after a short
illness and she will be sadly missed.
In February,
Kathy Walton came to tell us about the Youth Work in St. Michael’s.
We also had an Exhibition of wedding photographs in the Meeting room
to help celebrate Marriage Week.
In April we had
Trevor from the Dorset Fire & Rescue Service. Because of this many
of us had our homes checked and were given new fire alarms –
supplied and fitted free by the Service.
In May, Mr.
Tom Ratcliffe returned to give us part two of his talk on Bible
Plants, Fruits and Flowers and the following month, Sally Booth came
to give us an update on the Refuge and she returned with a car load
of clothes, bedding and toys for the families staying there.
In November
Mrs. Annette Williams came with her Christmas Crafts and explained
how each article was made – they were all so different and so
colourful.
We celebrated
three services with Rev. Andrew Sinclair during the year and in
Advent we were fortunate to have Mothers Union Chaplain, Rev. Simon
Evans to join us. Members of West Moors and Ferndown groups also
came.
We had a Lady
Day lunch, a garden party in the meeting room because of the poor
weather, a coffee morning in October and mince pies at Advent.
Our trip this
year was to Sherborne Abbey and again we shared a coach with West
Moors Mothers’ Union.
Joy Hood is
still collecting and filling boxes of toiletries for the Refuge.
This year she managed to collect and assemble 56 boxes – these are
very gratefully received at the Refuge. We also continue to collect
toys, clothes and bedding for the Refuge.
Lilian Fordham
is still collecting the knitted cardigans, hats and blankets for the
Neo-Natal Department of Poole Hospital. This year, Lilian was
invited for afternoon tea at the hospital and her picture was in the
Bournemouth Evening Echo, our local newspaper. We also continue to
deliver Baptism anniversary cards.
We have raised
money for the Refuge, Mothers Union Holiday, Overseas and Relief
Funds. We raised money with the help of our Church family, for the
‘Make a Mothers Day’ project.
My thanks also
go to Daphne Combes for knitting all the teddy bears for our play
bags, Refuge and the Neo-Natal Department. Although not one of our
members,
she has given
us a lot of support in all our activities. Lots of our members
support me in the running of the group and my thanks go to them all
and especially my Committee and the support from our Church
family.
Jenny
Burge – Leader
Share and Care Group
This
small group continues to meet for fellowship and friendship,
following bereavement, at my home, Hope Cottage, Church Hill on the
first Wednesday of each month from 2 until 4pm.
The group is
open to all who need a little extra support locally or who feel the
need for a listening, confidential ear.
Please feel
free to phone me or speak to me in church if we could be of help to
you.
Margaret Basavaraj 822920
Home Groups
Home Groups continue to thrive and grow we have increased our groups
from four to five venues giving an even better choice of times and
days to accommodate every life style. The groups are as follows:
Monday morning from 10am until 12 noon. Monday evening from 7.30pm
until 9.30pm. Tuesday evening 7.30pm until 9.30pm. Wednesday evening
7.30pm until 9.30pm. Thursday afternoon 2.30pm until 4.00pm.
Sincere thanks are extended to Joan Banks, Duncan and Celia Moss,
Mike and Sue Shier, Babs and Russell White and Denise Luff for their
warm hospitality to all.
The new Wednesday evening group was formed after the Alpha Study
finished and where new friendships had been formed and a desire to
understand more of the Bible was expressed therefore Wednesday
Alpha evenings continued but as a home group - thanks to Babs and
Russell who kindly opened their home to all who wanted to know more.
Lent Ecumenical Study.
Again there was a good response as all groups in conjunction with
all the other churches in Verwood studied the abolition of slavery
and all the social issue around that subject including free trade.
Thanks to Duncan Moss for organising the Lent study.
Skittle Evening and B-B-Q
Our skittles
evening this year was at the Elm Tree Inn near Ringwood. The turn
out was not a good as last year with approx 30 people attending.
The evening was as usual great fun and the Buffet supper was
excellent.
Unfortunately
the annual B-B-Q had to be cancelled as somebody left the taps on in
the sky and torrential rain did not stop for over a week before the
event so the gardens were water laden even before we started and on
the day the heavens just opened even more. Never mind we will have
to eat twice as many burgers and sausages next year!!!
Irene Martin
824391
Diocesan and Deanery Synod
Diocesan
– February – Subjects discussed The Church and the Environment.
There were a
series of workshops under the heading The Human Person – Using the
Bible, Shaping the Church, Applying our Reason and Examining our
Conscience.
In June – Talk
on Learning for Discipleship. Annual Report and Accounts, Diocesan
Budget 2008 and Share Assessment, Funding for Mission.
In November –
Discussion on Mature Christian Disciples, Vocations and Mission.
Strategy
for Deployment of Ministers.
Changes to
Diocesan Property Department. .
Deanery – At
the Synod held in April there was a Road Show which included Bishop
Tim and Archdeacon Alistair McGowan when the Deanery Plan was
discussed, with emphasis on Focus and Mission.
Sudan Deanery
Link – discussion on forthcoming visit by Rev. John Zebaruna from
Yambio.in May.
At the July
Synod we had a presentation given by the Diocesan Environmental
Group – Faith and Climate.
There was a
review given by those parishes who had entertained Rev. John
Zebaruna during his visit.
In November
Synod had a report from Rev. C. Strain explaining the workings of
General Synod.
The Deanery
Treasurer reported she expected over 97% return on Share.
Owing to lack
of space I am unable to give a more comprehensive report on Synods’
business, but if anyone would like to have more details please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Yvonne Kirton
Sunday Lunches
I would like to
begin by expressing my sincere thanks to the whole of the Sunday
lunch team, who by their hard work and commitment make this event
the success it is. I should also like to take this opportunity to
offer to Olive Allinson our sincere appreciation for her vision and
dedication to Sunday lunches over the years. As many of you are
aware Olive retired from the Sunday lunch team in August of last
year. It was at this point that I took over her role as
co-ordinator. This transition was made possible due to the careful
preparation and planning beforehand by Olive and Irene Martin. I
would like to extend to them both my grateful thanks for their
support and encouragement whilst at the same time wishing Olive well
for her retirement.
Sunday lunches
continue to grow in popularity. We are now entertaining
approximately eighty people a month with a never ending waiting
list. We have been able
to maintain the
cost to £4 per person. In addition we receive generous monthly
donations which go towards the purchase of extras for Christmas and
Easter lunches. Once again we have managed to make an annual
donation of £360 from our own resources to the PCC whilst at the
same time purchasing some new stainless steel kitchen equipment for
the lunches.
The funding
for the purchase of the wine has again been generously donated by
several of our members to whom I am deeply grateful.
I feel very
privileged to be part of this much needed outreach. To me this is
Christianity in action, at the heart of the community and where it
matters. Please continue to pray for the team and our members and if
you are interested in joining our band of helpers please contact me.
Catherine Gibson
Music/Choir
It is good to
report that the Choir at St Michael’s is continuing to thrive – in
these times it is really unusual to have such a large Choir in a
Parish Church. We have been pleased to welcome Peter Gifford to our
treble line, Clare Hayton to our soprano line and Peter Short to our
tenor line. We now have five basses, four tenors, six altos, seven
sopranos and two trebles. As always we are keen to find new members
of any voice, but particularly this year, men, altos and especially
children. We were very proud to see Elise Coward, one of our
trebles, succeed in getting a place at Salisbury Cathedral School as
a girl chorister – our loss is their gain.
The Choir work
hard every Friday evening in order that the worship may be as good
as it can be for St Michael’s. The regular 9.30am Sunday Services
are always our first priority and we try to use the anthem to
enhance the theme of each Sunday. The list of anthems we do is
published and is displayed on the Choir Noticeboard in the Meeting
Room. In addition to this we have worked hard towards other special
services, for example in Holy Week and Easter, Advent and Christmas.
Once again, we still feel that the special evening services are
poorly advertised and hope that it really can addressed as a matter
of urgency this year – something I report about each year. We spend
a tremendous amount of time working towards these services and it is
such a pity that more is not made of them.
Some
additional events that we have taken part in this year include:
· Rutter
Requiem and Parry – Shaftesbury
· Stainer
Crucifixion at Romsey Abbey
· Olivet to
Calvary on Palm Sunday
· Festival of
the Voice at Stourhead
· Choirs
Festivals in Salisbury Cathedral, Wimborne and Westbury
· Taize
evenings x 2
· Singing at
the African evening for Outreach
· Entertaining
at St Michael’s Harvest Supper
· Attending
several training sessions including Ladies Singing workshop
· Singing at
Canford Magna Church at the Carer’s Service
· Combining to
sing with Emmanuel Middle School Choir at their Christmas Service
· Singing
carols at the Verwood Community Christmas celebrations outside
the
Heritage Centre with Verwood Choral Society
·
Carol singing round the town – raising over £80 for the Church Funds
·
Choral Evensongs
·
Several Weddings including Helen nee Jarrett ( a past long standing
choir member)
·
Mozart Requiem at Shaftesbury
We enjoyed
ourselves with social events eg. Margaret’s special birthday
celebrations, Carol Singing supper, and the New Year Party. More
recently several members attended the Pantomime in Poole, and the
local pantomime at the Hub. Roy also entertained us with a brilliant
rendition of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Dickens as part of our
fundraising for Challenge 100 – many thanks to him.
In addition we
are pleased to announce that the Choir decided not to send cards to
each other this year at Christmas, and instead we donated money to
The Smile Train, a charity helping children with cleft palates, and
HUGS a charity helping schoolchildren in Uganda. We raised a total
of £160.
The Music
Groups have been tremendously busy too, and it is good to see the
Networks and ‘Raise the Roof’ Services being accompanied by many
different groups of musicians. It is good to see the young people
involved in this and many thanks to Sue Hancock who continues to
co-ordinate these.
If anyone is
interested in joining the Choir aged 7 and above (no upper age
limit!) or any other music group, please contact any member or Ann
for details and times of practices.
Finally, I
would like to thank all those who contribute in any way to the music
at St Michael’s. We have a wealth of talent and commitment from so
many people, and we are fairly unique as a Parish Church with our
thriving Choir and Music groups. My own particular thanks to Percy
who continues to exert great patience with us
all!
Ann Mayo
Flower and Brass Guild
We have
continued to decorate and polish St. Michael’s Church throughout
2007, whilst also providing extra floral arrangements for weddings
and Festival times.
On 2nd. April a
tea party was held at Ann Hilton’s home to mark the retirement of
Christine Stratton. We wish Christine continuing good health and
thank her for her contribution to St. Michael’s and the Flower
Guild, including her many years as chairman.
In November I
accepted the chairmanship of the Flower Guild and follow on from
Chris Gibbons, whom we would all like to thank for her past
expertise and time. We are so pleased to report that she is
remaining on the committee to assist us in the future.
We hope we can
continue to produce the high standards of previous years, and would
like to thank the congregation and visitors for their continued
appreciation and financial support.
The flower
arrangers and brass polishers would welcome new helpers to assist on
a rota system every Friday morning, in the company of our other lady
volunteers who clean St. Michael’s, when we enjoy each others
company as we adorn our beautiful church.
Jackie Mellet
COSMIC Groups
Cosmics
continues to operate with a rough division between first school age
and under (4-9) and middle school age (10-13). For some activities,
(Beetle Drive, Firework evening etc), the groups unite but a
division exists in that it is not until the youngsters join middle
school they become eligible to join the Cosmic Youth club which is
run by Babs White (see separate report). During 2007, the younger
Cosmics met twice a month as ‘Fun club’. This was held in the Parish
Centre on a Sunday morning before the 11.15 service. The children
received Bible teaching through stories, quizzes, drama and all
manner of craft activities and then attended the service, usually
with their parents. Parents are reminded about the Fun Club a few
days before, usually by e-mail, and attendance has usually been
good. Cosmic leaders and helpers prepare teaching and craft material
and take turns in running the club. The ‘old faithfuls’ of Marian
Beard, Babs and Russell White, Miriam Fairclough ,Jenny Macdonald
and Melanie Coward have been joined this year by Jo Sims and Anne
Clarke, whose children attend the club. Their help is greatly
appreciated. At the end of the summer term, a Cosmic ‘picnic’
(planned for Potterne Park but venue changed due to unseasonable
weather) was held in the parish centre and food and games were
enjoyed.
Miriam
Fairclough continues to administer the crèche for the 11.15 service.
This is a useful resource for families attending the service,
especially on baptismal Sundays. As a trial measure, a carpeted area
with toys, books and colouring materials was recently introduced
into the church in an attempt to encourage children to stay and
hopefully absorb some of the teaching and worship, rather than
always beating a hasty exit to the crèche at the start of the
service. Although still in its early stages, there has been good
feedback from this initiative, and parents have commented that it is
good to for the whole family to be involved in the service in this
relaxed manner.
Cosmic leaders
and helpers were again heavily involved in the annual Churches
Together Activity Club which was held at the Methodist Church for
four mornings during the February half-term 2007 and attracted over
100 children.
In the autumn,
five children from St Michael’s family followed an eleven week
course of study to prepare them to receive Holy Communion prior to
confirmation. The children’s commitment to the course was excellent
and I would like to thank Jenny Baxendale, Norman Mouland and Marian
Beard, who gave so much time and effort to help with this venture.
Melanie
Coward
The
Cosmic Youth Club
The
Cosmic Youth Club for children between the ages of 9 – 13 meets once
a month for food, fun and fellowship.
In April 2007
we had an Easter party involving a quiz, egg hunt and plenty of
chocolate.
In May we held
a fund raising event, a Beetle Drive which was open to the youth
club families and St Michaels congregation. Great fun was had by all
ages, the money raised, (over £150), went to help sponsor a child
from the Don McMath foundation school in the Gambia. We invited Mick
and Judy McMath along to the evening, who gave a talk about the
School, the foundation and how we can all get involved in the
project. They brought along some work and a picture of the child we
sponsor, Malang Badgeie, who was born in April 2000 and attends the
school.
Each year we
need to raise £50 to enable Malang to attend school so please do
support our Beetle Drive in April 08 if you can.
In June we had
a progressive supper evening, we started at the Parish Centre and
walked around Verwood having starters, main meal and a pudding at
different houses. Thanks to our parents who helped.
In July we
joined the 11.15am Network service and then a lunch at Babs and
Russell’s. Games involving bin liners, shaving foam, cheese wotsits,
flour and sweets were the main events!
In October we
were joined by some new members who had just started Middle School
and we had an evening at Babs & Russell’s house with a chocolate
fountain and bingo.
In November we
had a stall at the Church Bazaar and then joined with Thirst for a
bonfire party at Sue and Hanks. All the family was invited as usual,
and it was a great evening with plenty of loud fireworks, food and
good fellowship.
In December we
joined the 11.15am Network service then had a lunch at Babs &
Russell’s where we had our Christmas party which included a
Christmas quiz, pass the parcel and musical games.
In January
2008 we went to the Old Barn Farm for a skittles night, families
were invited and 40 parents and children came along. Good fun was
had by all.
In February
2007 we met at the Parish Centre for a games night with fish & chip
Supper (thanks
go to the Thirst youth group for letting us use their equipment).
In March we
meet for our Easter Party.
A big thank
you to the following as none of these evenings would happen without
their help and support…… Sue Hancock, Babs and Russell White (main
leaders), plus our teenagers… Kerra Hancock, Stuart and Kat White,
who have all given their time and energy.
Please pray
for the COSMIC Youth club as it grows and that our children and
their families can come to know more of Jesus in their lives.
Babs
White
Thirst
As well as our
regular Thirst sessions in the Parish Centre, this year we have
enjoyed a variety of different activities and events, These have
included a Chocolate Party, complete with chocolate fondue, a
chocolate fountain and about 300Kg Cadbury’s Diary Milk! A Matt
Redman in concert at the Bournemouth Family Church; a film night and
most recently went ice-skating at the Bournemouth International
Centre.
In August, 25
young people attended the Soul Survivor Week, where they took part
in daily worship celebrations, seminars and workshops. During the
week a Fun Run was held to raise money for the organisation Soul
Action, who are organising a large mission next summer to Durban,
South Africa. A number of our young people decided to enter the fun
run, and as a whole group they went out around the conference site
for 3 hours prior to the race and in that time raised over £500 for
Soul Action.
It has been
wonderful thought out the year to see their contributions to the
worship in our Church. At he Good Friday combined service they
presented a version of the Passion, which many people found very
moving; and three of our girls choreographed and presented a dance
for the Pentecost service.
Many of the
Thirst group are regularly involved with the music in St Michael's;
and we have some exceptionally talented musicians playing regularly
for the Networks and “Raise the Roof” services. One of whom wrote
and performed their first worship song for a recent “Raise the Roof”
service – our very own Matt Redman!
A special
thank you to all “Thirst” members for your good ideas for activities
and events; and a extra special thank you to Barbara & Steve Walton,
Sue & Hank Hancock and Babs & Russell White who help to organise and
run “Thirst”.
Kathy Walton
Young Families
2007
saw a healthy mix of craft, chat and education and activity fill our
Wednesday mornings. We have enjoyed talks by the Revd Pat Miles, by
Angela Daymond on the Hub, Threads and Treads on children’s feet,
Dorset Fire Service on keeping our homes safe and a specialist on
nurturing children’s self esteem. We have discovered balloon art,
tried out Pilates, taken part in an Organix forum on children’s
eating habits and eaten far too much pudding with a Pampered Chef.
We have competitively tossed pancakes and ordered far too much
chocolate with Chocoholics. We have made up hanging baskets,
decorated Easter Eggs, painted ceramics and designed t-shirts,
enjoyed quizzes and made things for ourselves and our children
through Hallowe’en and Christmas craft. We have fun!
In May, alongside the Playgroup, we
repeated previous year’s successful Teddy Bear’s picnic with various
activities and a competition for the best dressed teddy which the
children very much enjoyed. In June, the Group supported the
Playgroup again with their sponsored pedal push.
Young Families once again supported
the Church’s Christmas Fair by running a Santa’s Drawers and
Safecracker game with prizes provided by members and friends of the
Group.
On behalf of all the members of
Young Families we would like to thank everybody who has contributed
to our meetings over the past year, and in particular a huge thank
you to Marion Beard and her helpers in the crèche without whom our
Group could not exist.
Lynn
Arnold
