Churches Together

Melbourn Baptist Church

Between the 13th October and the beginning of December we will have hosted The Light Party, an alternative children’s evening of fun instead of Halloween.

Also, the Little Lambs group of 1–4 year olds, which is a Christian Bible-based fun morning that meets regularly once a month. There is a small charge for this but many of the activities we put on are free.

Keep your eye out for posters etc. at the Baptist Church of other exciting things being put on between now and Christmas.

We are very excited to announce that we have just engaged a youth leader called Jason to help our young people extend their faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If there are any young people out there, you are warmly welcomed to come along on a Sunday morning to meet him and the other youth within our church.

Now you have your new Melbourn Magazine, Christmas must of course be almost upon us! This year, why not come along and join with us at one of our services, the dates and times are all on the calendar within.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas, a joyous New Year and God’s love to grow in your life.

Melbourn United Reformed Church

Christian Aid We hosted a Melbourn & Meldreth Churches Together Soup Lunch & BBQ held after our morning worship on 28th July in aid of Christian Aid. Bob Holcombe from the Baptist Church was in charge of the BBQ and braved the elements by being outside protected by a gazebo whilst the rest of us were inside the church hall. We provided the soup and were pleased we had to put out more tables to accommodate everyone. It was an enjoyable event and raised £325.50 for Christian Aid. Songs of Praise Melbourn & Meldreth Churches Together held a Songs of Praise at Holy Trinity Church, Meldreth on Sunday 8th September at 4pm. The service was coordinated by David Hollamby and Rev’d Mary Price with each church choosing two hymns. After some hearty singing we all enjoyed a Bring and Share Tea and a social time together. Harvest Festival We celebrated our Harvest Festival on Sunday 15th September. The church was beautifully decorated with the emphasis on food and drink items needed by Jimmy’s Night Shelter in Cambridge together with blankets, hats, etc knitted by our Craft & Chat Group. Our thanks to Melbourn Co-op who provided some of the groceries. The service was led by Rev’d Robert Van de Weyer who dedicated the items going to Jimmy’s. Afterwards we enjoyed a soup lunch. The groceries, hats and blankets were later taken to Jimmy’s together with a cheque for £150. Jimmy’s were most grateful for our donations.

Christian Aid Soup Lunch & BBQ

Harvest Festival

Concert Two members of our congregation went to hear Aled Jones and Russell Watson sing live at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Saturday 5th October. It was a most enjoyable evening. Aled and Russell sang a wide range of songs including Funiculi Funicula, Volare, Ave Maria, How Great Thou Art, Make Me A Channel of Your Peace, The Lord Is My Shepherd and May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You. Their encore was The Impossible Dream. Tastes of Christmas We invite you to join us on Saturday 7th December from 11am to 2pm for our Tastes of Christmas. There will be morning coffee, a delicious lunch, crafts, a raffle with food hamper prizes and much more. Proceeds are for church funds. Christian Unity We are hosting The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Service on Sunday 19th January 2020 at 4pm. The theme is ‘usual kindness’ and there will be a Bring & Share Tea afterwards. Do come and join us in this ecumenical worship.

All Saints’ and Holy Trinity

“Why not join us this winter, and find out about the exciting programme of events and services we’ve got planned? December is of course the season of Advent – a season which the church uses to prepare us for the birth of Christ at Christmas by thinking about the Bible readings which tell of the birth of Jesus and what that means for us.

On Sunday 1st December, we have our Advent Carol Service at 5.30pm at Holy Trinity, Meldreth, which takes place amidst the twinkling lights of the beautifully-decorated Christmas Trees from the Christmas Tree Festival that weekend. On Sunday 15 December at 3.30pm in All Saints’, we have our annual Christingle Service in aid of the Children’s Society. This service is especially designed for children and young families, so please do come along.

On Sunday 22 December, we have our Christmas Carol Services – 4pm at Holy Trinity, Meldreth, and 6pm at All Saints’, Melbourn. Why not join in and sing some well-loved carols with your friends and family? On Christmas Eve, our popular Crib Service at 3pm in All Saints’ returns – Noah the Donkey will be with us again, and this year he will have a bit more room in his temporary stable outside of the church. Later that day, at 11pm come along to our Midnight Eucharist, for the first opportunity to say, “Happy Christmas!” On Christmas Day itself, we have services at 8am in Melbourn, and 10am at Meldreth.

Christmas is not just a day in December, though: it’s a season, and so we continue celebrating on Sunday 6 January at 9.45am in Meldreth with a special service for the Epiphany, which marks when the wise men visited Jesus and gave him the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; then on 2nd February we have a very special candle-lit choral evensong at All Saints’ in Melbourn at 6pm.

Our Sunday Schools continue to offer a fun and exciting way of learning about Jesus and the Bible – they meet on the first Sunday of the month at Meldreth, and the second Sunday of the month at Melbourn. You can see the colourful work which our groups have done, as it’s on show in both churches – why not join in? Messy Church also meets again on 26 January and 8th March in Meldreth – look out for the posters for more info.

With the darker nights, we’re also pleased to say that the floodlit path at Holy Trinity has now been refurbished (thank you to all who helped with that). On the theme of electrics, you may have heard that All Saints’ is in desperate need of urgent electrical work, and so we are trying to raise funds to allow us to ensure that the wiring in church is safe. To help us with that, our Treasurer, Ron, walked over 200 miles in the summer from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire. Well done Ron! If you would be able to help us with raising money for that appeal, do please be in touch with Revd Lizzie, or Ron.

God bless you, and have a wonderful Christmas – may God bless you and all those who you love! The Revd Lizzie Shipp.

Raising funds for All Saints’ Church by walking the Coast to Coast Walk in September 2019 On our first day we made our way north with Virgin Rail via 2 trains to St Bees. We arrived around 3pm and found overnight accommodation immediately next to the station. At St Bees there is a statue of St Beda, after which it is named. We headed out to walk round St Bees Head and the lighthouse that afternoon.

We reached a point after 5 miles which is the last sight of the Irish Sea before we head east towards the Lake District. Back to St Bees for a well-deserved supper before our challenge begins fully.

The next day we delayed our start to avoid the rain. It was a good move. Clouds pursued us all day but it rained only for a few minutes at a time. We encountered a statue representing all walkers on the Coast to Coast walk and a mural commemorating WW1 on the side of a house at Cleator. Streams were in full spate. My friend Paul tried to jump one forgetting he had a pack on and nearly fell in.

The path goes around Ennerdale Water aiming for the YHA at Cat Crag. Some parts of the path were non-existent though. It was hard work on the path along Ennerdale Water but the weather improved as evening fell. 19 miles completed.

Day 3 dawned fine and just got better. We set out on the low path to Rothswaite but diverted to climb over Haystacks mountain on the high route. We had a view back to Ennerdale Water as we climbed up. It turned out to be a good decision. Views were stunning. We viewed Innominate Tarn beloved of Wainwright. The Honister Slate Quarry provided the necessary tea stop on the way down.

We arrived at Rothswaite with 31.5 miles completed.

Onto day 5 and Monday dawned, raining as predicted, but despite a drizzle all morning we made good progress, passing Angle Tarn on the way before reaching our high point of the journey, Kidsty Pike (2560 feet). We were well into the clouds so no view unfortunately. As the day progressed the weather improved and we got to see some of the landscape. We have met up with a German lad at every stop so far. He says he now understands why we are so consumed by the weather. There was now a 4 mile long walk along Haweswater lake and reservoir followed by a further 4.5 miles to Shap, where we eventually arrived at 8pm after another long day. The consensus of opinion in the pub was that the walk was 20 miles rather than the 16 expected.

Day 6 and better weather today. Our final view of the Lake District was of Shap power station, visible for miles and strangely atypical. We are now to walk along a very flat limestone pavement. Mountains give way to rolling hills, though still very attractive. The Coast to Coast then takes in a former railway line, complete with embankments and cuttings. We’d encountered four Aussies who were lost. We couldn’t wait for them, but left tracking signs to show them the way in good old scouting fashion. It seemed to work. Another 20 miles completed, but a bit earlier in our arrival at 6.30 pm at Kirkby Stephen. The signpost says we had completed 82 miles and had 108 to go.

It’s day 7, and we discovered that the Tour of Britain went through Kirkby Stephen yesterday. There were many efforts by shops and others to welcome the cyclists. We made good progress on a relatively flat route, and around 3pm we were descending from the hills both thinking we could murder a cup of tea. What should appear but a farm selling cream teas! But not any farm. This one is owned by Amanda Owen who appeared on ITVs “The Dales” series as a farmer who also writes about her experiences. She is an amazing woman with nine children. Now refreshed, we begin our approach to Keld alongside the river Swale. Our accommodation is called the Bunk House and recent rain means a thirty foot waterfall outside the back door.

We seem to have adopted Clemens, a German primary teacher holidaying by walking the C2C. He appeared at our stop at Ennerdale and then every night thereafter. It might not be too surprising as I gave him a copy of our route with stopping points.

On day 8 it was raining as we left. We took the low road again as there were no views to be had.

A rainbow formed in the mist of drizzle in the valley. The field boundaries are very pretty themselves, with flowers and ferns growing out of them. Much of the countryside we crossed is grouse moor.

The national park and other authorities are doing wonders in providing improved access, with stone paths across the boggy surfaces. A not unpleasant walk to Reeth.

We woke to early morning sunshine and it proved a forerunner of a fine day. Rather a walk in the park after a day with rain yesterday. This was our easiest and shortest walk of only about 11 miles to arrive at Richmond.

Day 10 was the first of our final four days that will see us

Ennerdale Water

We left Rothswaite in sunshine the following day. Best weather we’ve seen in the Lakes for many a year. Galleny Force looks superb as do all the falls. We were able to look back at Borrowdale from Lining Crag, passed over Easedale Gill and reached Grisedale Tarn, our second high point of the day. Most people we met were happy to stop at Grasmere after 9 miles but we pressed on to Patterdale another eight miles which we eventually made by 7.15pm.