Melbourn United Reformed Church News The Big Christmas Card Many thanks to all who used the Big Christmas card to send greetings to friends. This year the proceeds of £86 were sent to the Mercy Ships Charity. This charity provides free surgery and medical care as well as training and advice to local community partners in many developing countries around the world. See www.mercyships.org.uk for more information.
Organist Opportunity Our long standing organist Derrick Thurley is looking to hand over duties playing the organ at our regular Sunday morning services (11 am). This might be an opportunity for an up and coming organist as Derrick would be happy to mentor someone or share duties initially. We would be equally pleased to hear from an experienced organist. The organ has 2 manuals, 15 stops with a straight concave pedal board (see NPOR for details). We have a small choir and a typical congregation of 25-35 who like to sing! We also have a parlour grand piano which we use occasionally. Some remuneration possible. For further information please contact Eirwen or Peter Karner Tel: 01763 262346
Fairtrade Fortnight 27th February – 11th March During these two weeks we will be joining with thousands of others up and down the U.K. in trying to raise awareness of Fairtrade and invite everyone to join in making small steps of change in buying Fairtrade goods, and in doing so make a big difference to the lives of farmers and workers around the world. See www.fairtrade.org/steps for more details. We support Fairtrade on a regular basis, by serving fairly traded tea and coffee after our Sunday Services and at our weekly ‘Friday Coffee’, which runs from 10.30 each Friday morning. On our Fairtrade stall we have a wide variety of goods which includes cereals, dried fruits, biscuits and chocolates and seasonal items e.g. Fairtrade Easter Eggs and cards. Please do come and join us either at services or
for coffee and a chat and take the opportunity to support Fairtrade at the same time. News of any special events during Fairtrade Fortnight will be posted on our church noticeboard nearer the time.
All Saints Community Hall The bookings for the New Year are very encouraging and it is good to see that several clubs and organisations have been making regular bookings every week, which fill up our schedules and sometimes we have had to disappoint some enquirers. This is not an easy thing to do so if you are planning an event in the future it is better to ask as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Our Coffee Stop every Saturday morning draws in a good crowd of people and on days when local organisations use its facilities for fund raising it is sometimes hard to find a seat! Please consider using the Hall if your local club is looking to raise funds. We are constantly looking at improving our facilities and have recently improved the kitchen and now we are looking at the acoustics. Colin Limming, Bookings Secretary. 01763 260072 hallbookings@live.co.uk
Supporters of All Saints (SOAS) Our financial year ended on a healthy note with a good bank balance, which is available for any work needing to be done on the Parish Church fabric. This is due very much to our members’ prompt payment of their subscriptions as well as successful fund raising events. A regular income from Christmas cards, the ‘100 Club’ and the proceeds of ‘The Bookshelf’ held monthly at Coffee Stop on Saturdays in All Saints Community Hall, have helped greatly to increase our funds. Several members have given us ideas for the 2012 programme and these were considered at our January Committee meeting. Full details will be sent out to members as definite dates are arranged but there is one certainty and that is our ‘Open Gardens Day’ on Sunday 16th September when local residents will be opening their gardens to visitors. Membership of SOAS is open to all whether members of melbournmagazine
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