7 minute read
Church news
Christian Aid Week in Melbourn 2012
Advertisement
I would like to give a big ‘Thank You’ to all those that helped with the House to House collection this year, in Melbourn.
Making a grand total of £1020 slightly less than last year.
This is the last year in which I intend to be in charge of the Christian Aid in Melbourn. I am looking for someone to hand the job over to. Please think it over and I am willing to help anyone with their 1st year doing the job.
If you think this is a job is for you please contact me by phone or email.
If I get NO response then this will be the last year Christian Aid will benefit from the £1000 + that is collected in Melbourn. Helen John, Christian Aid Secretary for Melbourn 261147 or email: helen.p.john@gmail.com
Harvest Festival Weekend
15th – 16th September
Melbourn URC is once again celebrating harvest by hosting a Harvest Festival Weekend. As in past years, we are looking forward to seeing the church decorated with lots of imaginative, artistic floral and produce displays and arrangements. On Saturday, the church will be open to visitors from 11 am and there will be refreshments and some children’s activities in the hall. From 2 pm we hope that some music will be played whilst people enjoy the displays. On Sunday we have our Harvest Service at 11 am, followed by a Bring and Share lunch and sale of the produce. Please do come and join us for some or all of these events and support a good cause at the same time.
The charity we will be supporting again this year is Tools With A Mission (TWAM). As part of our efforts we will be collecting more tools no longer needed in the UK which will be refurbished and sent to countries where they can be used. Suitable tools and equipment can be brought to the church over the weekend.
All types of carpentry, mechanics, builders, plumbing, sewing, knitting, gardening, and craft tools can be donated. Sewing and knitting machines (please make sure they are complete), flat screen computers and laptops, educational textbooks, adult mountain bikes, and manual typewriters can also be used. Wheelchairs, crutches and a variety of other medical aids to help those with a variety of disabilities can also be utilized.
Please get in touch with us for more details (Peter and Eirwen Karner 262346) or consult the full list available from the TWAM website. www.twam.co.uk
Knitting and Craft Group
Anyone interested in joining a Knitting and Craft Group? The aim is to set up a weekly group for those interested in learning or passing on some skills in the area of Arts and Crafts alongside having coffee and a chat. It is planned that we will meet in the URC Church Hall on Thursday afternoons from 2–4 pm starting in September. For further information call Anne Field 220869. Aid for Romania Evening – Friday, 5th October
Ros Van de Weyer, one of our church members and a physiotherapist working locally, visited Romania last year as part of a medical aid group. She was both moved and moved to action by what she saw there, and will be returning later this year. She will talk to us and show pictures of her visit. This promises to be an interesting and informative evening. There will be a supper included in the event with an opportunity to talk with Ros and find out more about what we can do to help. Further details will be available from the church nearer the time.
All Saints’ Community Hall
One of the minor problems with groups using the hall has been that some of the sound ‘bounces off’ and has made conversation difficult especially when individual groups are all talking at once.
Thanks to generous donations from Melbourn Parish Council, Cambridge Building Society and All Saints Parochial Church Council and some anonymous donors, it has been possible to order remedial work to be put in hand. By the time you read this article acoustic panels coupled with new lighting will have been installed making the spoken word easier to hear.
It emphasises the fact that the Hall is truly a Community Hall open for hire to anyone in or out of Melbourn.
Bookings continue to be received at a steady rate and the financial position is very satisfactory but everyone is
Supporters of All Saints’ (SOAS)
The Supporters have lost a great member now that Anne Ford has died after suffering ill health for a long time. Despite this she carried on with her work of making greetings cards for all occasions, which resulted in raising hundreds of pounds for us. She will be sorely missed.
The Committee decided earlier in the year that with the Jubilee and Olympic Games during the summer then SOAS would concentrate on an autumn and early winter programme and this has resulted in the following events:
Bob Howard’s Mexican Evening – Saturday 6th October
Another of our popular ‘food themed’ evenings at 7.30pm in All Saints’ Community Hall. Tickets will be available from 01763 260686 or 01763 260072 so put the date in your diary now.
Beetle Drive – Saturday 10th November
A ‘fun and games’ evening but you wouldn’t believe the laughs you can get from a dice, a pen and a piece of paper!
Orlando Singers ‘In Concert’ – Saturday 8th December
The return of this renowned Cambridge Choir with a programme guaranteed to please all musical tastes.
For further information on any of our events contact 01763 260686 or 01763 260072. Colin Limming Publicity Officer.
All Saints’ Parish Church
In a previous article I wrote about the eight bells of All Saints that ring every Sunday, either a single bell for the early Holy Communion at 8.00 am or the full ring of eight for the 9.45 a.m. Family Communion.
Some of the bells are very old indeed and it is interesting to note the events of the years in which they were placed in position. Treble Bell and Bell 2 – 1987 Terry Waite taken as a hostage in Beirut and not released until 1991. First ever Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Rudolf Hess dies in his cell in Spandau prison. Great storm of 1987, which resulted in the deaths of 23 people. Bell 3 – 1913 Russian Royal Family House of Romanov celebrates 300 years of its succession but within four years the Royal family will all be dead.
Emily Wilding Davison, a suffragette, throws herself in front of the King’s horse Anmer in the Derby and dies of her injuries four days later. Bell 4 and Bell 5 – 1615 Perse School in Cambridge founded by Dr. Stephen Perse. King James 1 accompanied by Prince Charles (later Charles 1) visits Cambridge University. Second part of Don Quixote published. Bell 6 – 1616 Sir Walter Raleigh released from prison to lead an ill-fated expedition to the fabled land of El Dorado – he fails and on his return is beheaded for treason. Red Indian Princess Pocahontas arrives in England. Death of William Shakespeare. Bell 7 – 1789 George Washington elected first President of the United States. Mutiny on the Bounty led by Fletcher Christian. In July the Bastille prison in Paris is stormed and the French Revolution begins. Tenor Bell – 1688 King James II is deposed in ‘The Glorious Revolution’ and William of Orange is invited to become King. Edward Lloyd opens the first coffee house in London, which is much frequented by shipping people and is the beginning of Lloyds of London.
Many of the bells you hear on a Sunday morning or at weddings or rung ‘half muffled’ on Remembrance Sunday have seen much of our country’s history and will see more as the years unfold. Colin Limming
SOAS 100 Club
The May draw was made by Rev Andrew O’Brien on 31st May. There were 77 members. The first prize of £25.70 goes to Colin Limming (70) at 4 Chapman’s Close and the second to Janet Batchelor (29) at 14 Elm Way.
The June draw was made by the Rev Andrew O’Brien on 5th July. There were 77 members. The first prize of £25.70 goes to Mr R Brooksbank (17) at 66 Medcalfe Way and the second of £12.90 to W A Warden (13) at 10 Thatcher Stanford’s Close.
The July draw was made on 4th August by Mr Mike Rawlings. There were 77 members. The first prize of £25.70 goes to Anne Harding (66) at 52 The Moor and the second to John Bridger (19) at 131 High Street.
The Word of God from David Burbridge
The Word of God is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. from Hebrews 4. 12/13
