British Science Week at Mildmay Primary School

Whether you knew it or not, 13th - 17th March was British Science week, and we certainly made the most of it at Mildmay Primary School. Science co-ordinators Mrs Mixture and Mr Wills went to great lengths to arrange visits from a variety of guests so that the children could all learn more about animal classifications and species.

The team from All Things Alpaca brought Pluto and Poncho to school to meet the children. They were both fascinated by their own reflection in our windows and coped with the high winds brilliantly - there was a good discussion of recessive genes causing Pluto’s white fur and blue eyes. Children were amazed to learn that alpacas can see almost 360 degrees owing to uniquely designed eyes.

Later in the week the team were back with a minibeast zoo to introduce to the children, with giant African land snails, millipedes and a tarantula! You wouldn’t get me touching them, but the children were inquisitive and very brave!

As if that wasn’t enough, we were able to welcome Liam from The Owl and Raptor Company who introduced a range of birds, including the very amusing burrowing owl (who prefers to walk rather than fly), to upper and lower school assemblies.

Add to this some fabulous scientific investigation and a great performance from our Year 5 engineers at the

E2V inter-school challenge (winning the catapult contest), and it has to be said that Mildmay Primary School’s first Science Week has been a massive success.

Dominic Mulholland, Headteacher

Twitter: @mildmayschool www.mildmayprimary.org

Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome, a focus for early aviation heritage in Essex and across the country, has launched an emergency fundraising drive.

Museum giants the Royal Air Force Museum have agreed to provide a very rare reproduction of Sopwith Tabloid number 168 - the only one in the world - to the treasured local museum, provided they can meet some of the transport and technical costs.

The museum - a charity and accredited by Arts Council Englandis battling to stay open for its army of supporters and volunteers, despite the 200%+ jump in power costs and other expenses.

Ian Flint, Chief Executive Officer of Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome, said: “Our museum spends its time protecting the heritage of our county and our nation. We are dedicated to preserving these rare objects for us and everyone to see, forever. We are really keen to get the Sopwith to Stow, but we have a £2,500 funding gap that we need everyone’s help to fill. Other costs are being split between the RAF museum and ourselves, but we can’t do it without the help of our community.”

You can read more about this unique aircraft and donate at gofund. me/af85f455 or search for Stow Maries on gofundme.com.

The site is now gearing up for its extensive events programme and volunteer recruitment drive. For more details check www.stowmaries. org.uk.

Easter - Jesus is Alive!

Easter, for those like me who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that God raised him from the dead, is the primary celebration of the year. You might think it’s Christmasbut actually, Easter is far more significant. Christmas would mean nothing if Jesus Christ was executed on the cross and stayed dead. But that’s not what happened. Jesus Christ was raised to life again by God. Not resuscitated, resurrected. The difference is important. Everyone who is resuscitated dies again. Jesus Christ was resurrected and never died again - he is still alive today and will be forever.

Some people think that this is just wishful thinking. But let me give you three major pieces of evidence that point to the only logical conclusion that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

First: Evidence in the Bible. In the gospels (books in the Bible called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we have four slightly different accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, which give an air of authenticity (if someone was making this up, they’d make sure their story was watertight - exactly the same across all four gospels). Also, the first people to see the risen Lord Jesus were women - in the culture of the time, women were thought to be unreliable witnesses (again, bad start if you’re making this all up!).

Second: The tomb was empty. It’s pretty much universally agreed by historians (Christian and non-Christian alike) that the tomb was empty. What happened to the body? Early Jewish arguments against Jesus being alive assumed an empty tomb and accused Jesus’ disciples of stealing his body. If the Jewish authorities knew the body was still in the tomb, they could have just produced Jesus’ dead body - but they couldn’t, because it was empty.

Third: Jesus’ disciples. Jesus’ disciples kept telling everyone that Jesus Christ was alive - even when it cost them their lives. Most of them were martyred (murdered by the state for saying that Jesus had been brought back to life by God). If they knew it was all made up, why were they willing to die for a lie? That would be nonsense.

This Easter, let me ask you: What do you believe about Jesus Christ? Have you looked at the evidence yourself? If not, why not this year?

NB: I’ll be on sabbatical for the next three editions of the Moulsham Times, and James Bell, Youth and Community Pastor at Tile Kiln Church, will be writing in my stead.

Tim Goodall Pastor, Tile Kiln Church

tim.goodall@tilekilnchurch.org.uk

07821 866 301

YouTube: tinyurl.com/y24qlkvx

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tilekilnchurch www.tilekilnchurch.org.uk