Covenant Sunday

Last Sunday was Covenant Sunday in St Peter's and the Sunday Squad took part in the preceedings in their own unique way! They found all 11 pieces if this huge jigsaw of St Peter's keys which they then made up with very little adult input... most impressive!! The keys symbolised our church and Duncan showed them how the keys were only complete when all the pieces were fitted together. This showed the children how we are all an integral part of God's family and equally important whether we are 1 week old or 100 years old! The children then cut out and stuck on the pledges of help and support given by the congregation to remind us that we can all help other members of God's family.

"Outsider's" view of a Vestry Meeting

Last night - 14th May - I attended the "open" vesrty meting. Surpisingly interesting!

The issue that interested me most was the possibility of building on our success at fundraising with "Soup 'n' Pud" events. It was mooted that these might be more regular, perhaps every fortnight or even every week. People will always come up for a good meal and these events are always well supported by people outwith the congregation as well as church members and there is always at least one new face.

St Peter's reaches out to the community in a good, friendly and sociable way at a "Soup 'n' Pud" lunch.

In order to expand the service we would need a bigger list of helpers - both active serving teams and those who are willing to make soups and/or puds but can't actively help out during the setting up, serving, washing-up and clearing away. It would probably need a co-ordinator to hold all the threads together. If you are interested get in touch with me on the blog or on 01896 751694.

There were a lot of other interesting items on the agenda but this is the one that caught my attention and there are other, better informed folk who are members of the vestry who are involved with those.

Rebecca's Coffee Evening

I went to Rebecca Wade's coffee evening with Rosemary last Tuesday (12th May). What wonderful views from her house. Georgia, Badger and Patch provided the entertainment and I think that Georgia lent one of her Pingu videos to Karen!

Three types of cake were on offer and I sampled the chocolate dots (being a chocoholic!) and a wonderfully sticky piece of lemon cake. I am sure that the third - gingerbread was just as tastey.

It was a lovley social gathering and in such a good cause too.

Well done Rebecca.

ACAT letter writing 29th April

On the evening of Wednesday 29th April six of us, Tony, Helen, Joyce, Nancy, Rosemary and I met in the hall to write letters on behalf of prisoners in various countries.

We do this every couple of months after Rosemary has received the latest mailing from ACAT.

ACAT is an organisation called Action by Christians Against Torture and as well as writing the letters we pray for those mentioned in the appeals. We usually write two letters each and we all sign all of them. It would be possible to e-mail some but this loses the personal touch of the handwriting of a group of people.

Occasionally we get replies - the last one was in Russian! ACAT UK translated it for us. And we sometimes get letters from prisoners who have been freed. These letters tell how important our letters are as conditions improved after some were received and the people always had hope when they knew that others in many countries were praying for them.

The letters are sent to their Governments and copies go to Embassies or High Commissions in London. We are also asked to write to our MPs about people who are British citizens or have Right of Abode here - Guantanamo prisoners for example.


New letter writers are always welcome - just let Rosemary know that you are interested.

Christian Aid Service

This is Dr Dorothy Adeosun with Rosie, Freya and Georgia from the Sunday Squad. Dorothy came to talk to this morning about how her church in Nigeria helps others' in the community. She told us of the medical outreach work which is being done, the clothing which is donated and given to those in need and the churches recent project to secure clean water for a rural village by sinking a bore hole. Dorothy also highlighted the problem of infant malnutrition and how the church helps to combat this by encouraging local farmers to grow beans as cheap source of protein for their families. It was very interesting to hear about God's love working on the other side of the world and was insight into how much we could gain from having a companion link with a church in Africa. The congregation were told that this is something which will be discussed at the Open Vestry meeting on Thursday evening in the Rectory at 7.30pm.

The children at the Sunday Squad did their bit for Christian Aid by making cheese scones and chocolate krispy cakes and selling them to the rest of the congregation. The home baking was a hugh success, with everything being sold within 10 mins and £20 being raised!!! A big thank you to Oscar, Rosie, Freya, Georgia, Jessica and Sean for their hard work!!!!

Christian Aid Soup and Pud lunch

The Soup and Pud lunch is something of a St Peters staple and yesterday was used to raise money for Christian Aid. Pictured are the kitchen staff: Rosemary, Susan, Fiona and Karen who worked hard in the litchen to ensure all the soups and puds were at 'the pass' in time!! Thanks also go to Tony on the door and to Duncan, Helen and Richard the serving staff. Thanks to all their hard work and to the generosity of those who came £200 was raised for this great charity.

Look out for more pictures from Christian Aid week on the website.....

Christian Aid Week

Christian Aid week will run from 10th -16th May 2009 and is Britain's longest running fundraising week. It was launched in 1957 and last year raised £14.7 million to fund work in some of the world's poorest communities.

Our Christian Aid programme of events is as follows;

Sun 10th May @ 10.30am - Christian Aid service
Tues 12th May @ 7pm - Christian Aid coffee event at 18 Glendinning Terr
Thurs 14th May @ 10.30am - Christian Aid coffee morning in the Church Hall
Fri 15th may @ 7.30pm - Christian Aid Quiz Night in the Church Hall

As you can see there are a variety of events taking place as well as door to door collecting and collecting at Asda, so please remember the work of Christian Aid and try to support this valuable charity if you can.

Cerys Robertson's Baptism

This is Cerys Darcy Robertson being baptised by Duncan with her Mum and Dad looking on. As always she was very well behaved and managed to sleep through the whole thing! A big thank you to all Cerys's family and friends who turned out to witness her special day, we welcome her into the family of God and hope she has many happy years at St Peter's.

It's at these times, when the sun is shining and the church is full of people all there to celebrate a great family event, that you realise how special God's love for us is.

Sunday Squad

On Sunday the sunday squad were learning about the 'wolves' in our lives and about how Jesus is the Good Shepherd and keeps us safe. The main activity was playing 'what's the time mister wolf' in the garden, as you can see Duncan was in fine form as 'Mister Wolf'......