Churches Together

Photograph by John Salmon Photograph by Nigel Cox Photograph by Nigel Cox

Introducing the new priest in charge

On what was possibly the hottest night of the year history was made at the church of All Saints in Melbourn when the Reverend Elizabeth Ann Shipp was licensed to be priest in charge of the parishes of All Saints Melbourn and Holy Trinity Meldreth. Elizabeth (or Lizzie as she prefers to be known) is the first woman priest in the long history of the church.

The church was packed and there were representatives from Lizzie’s former post as Chaplain to the Bishop of Worcester. The service was led by the Bishop of Ely Stephen Conway and the Archdeacon of Cambridge Alex Hughes. The Bishop was accompanied by the four churchwardens Teresa O’Malley, John Price, Michael Galley and Roger Mellor.

In the course of the service various sections of the two churches came forward with their gifts and at the end representatives from village organisations introduced themselves to Lizzie.

Refreshments had been laid on in All Saints Community Hall where favourite amongst the drinks was cold apple and orange juice!

Mary Price

After the service in All Saints Church on Sunday 10th July, the Churchwardens Mike Galley and Roger Mellor made a presentation to Mary Price on behalf of the congregation. During the yearlong interregnum (a time without an incumbent vicar) Mary has given generously of her time in keeping the services running smoothly in both Melbourn and Meldreth.

Her calm and gentle approach has won the affection of everyone, she has conducted funerals and weddings with tenderness and sincerity. She has confessed, however, to being somewhat fazed at having to conduct the Crib Service which is unscripted and totally at the mercy of the behaviour of the donkey! Noah behaved perfectly and the service was as usual a huge success.

Pauline Hay also gave Mary a bouquet of flowers as a token of gratitude.

Craft and Chat We knit for various charities and in April we delivered 28 baby blankets, cardigans and knitwear to the Special Care Baby Unit at the Rosie Maternity Hospital. Hats, jumpers and blankets were also sent to South Africa. We meet on Thursday afternoons in the hall from 2-4pm and welcome new members. You can knit from home if you are unable to join us on a Thursday afternoon. Contact Anne Field for further details, her telephone number is 01763 220869. Friends of BIDII David and Lesley Hollamby, friends of BIDII, gave us a very interesting presentation on 20th May about the work of BIDII in Kenya. BIDII is a Swahili word meaning ‘effort’ and is an acronym for the ‘Benevolent Institute of Development Initiatives’. The charity was created in 1997 to address poverty in the communities surrounding Machakos, the former capital of Kenya. It is led by a small, highly skilled, dedicated team whose faith is their strength and their logo is ‘strength to serve’. BIDII helps with the development needs of the community and supports numerous projects. A lot of work is done in relation to HIV and AIDS, education, training Community Health Workers, agriculture and providing water. We enjoyed a buffet supper after the presentation and learnt more about BIDII and David and Lesley’s visits to Kenya. Bloomsday We were pleased to take part in the Bloomsday Celebrations on 16th June by hosting the celebrations from 2-4pm. There was knitting and silhouette making among the Edwardian Crafts and tea/coffee and cakes to enjoy while listening to readings and music. Donations were for WaterAid.

Village Fete We had a stall at the Village Fete held on Saturday 18th June. There was a fair trade stall, stained glass painting and people were invited to take part in colouring some artwork with the theme ‘Hope, Love, Share, Care’. The artwork will be on display at our Harvest Festival Celebrations.

Harvest Our Harvest Festival Services are on Sunday 18th September. The morning service is at 11am and in the afternoon there will be tea and cake at 4pm followed by Songs of Praise at 5pm, you are most welcome to join us.

Melbourn Baptist Church

Life at Melbourn Baptist Church continued to be busy throughout the summer.

As usual, the holiday time has seen a series of ‘light and deep’ services, with volunteers helping over the holiday period with special activities for the children, while Sunday school takes a break.

The church’s young people and the youth band led a service in July, and young people and leaders were planning a trip to the Soul Survivor camp.

Church members were also looking forward to a visit from missionaries Claire-Lise and David Judkins, followed by a special lunch.

Claire-Lise and David undertook a period of training at the Baptist Missionary Society international mission centre in September 2012. As a family, they then moved to France with a long-term vision of starting a network of churches.

People attending Melbourn Baptist Church who miss the Sunday sermon, or who may like to hear it again, can now find sermons available on the church website, www.melbourn-baptist.org.uk for three weeks following preaching.

The newly-formed church choir now meets once a month at the church on Saturday afternoons. It is proving popular, interest is growing, and church members are looking forward to an even greater variety of worship during services.

A memorial service for long-standing church member Lilian Tan was held at All Saints Parish Church.

As part of the Baptist Cluster exchange programme, Melbourn’s Stuart

Clarke preached at Barton, while Adrian Semerene from Comberton preached at Melbourn.

For some years the church has collected used postage stamps to raise money for Baptist Missionary Society world mission, and is grateful to everyone who has helped raise funds in this way.

The church took part in the Melbourn and Meldreth Churches Together fun on the rec picnic lunch and games, and also enjoyed a day out and picnic at Thetford Forest.

Plans are in hand for a church weekend away in autumn next year.

Supporters of All Saints (SOAS)

At the time of writing this report we are waiting the arrival and licensing of our new Priest in charge Elizabeth (Lizzie) Shipp. We hear good reports of her and know that she will fit in with our efforts to raise money for our parish church.

Fund raising for the church goes on apace and our latest event was a Beetle Drive. It was a fun packed evening with the rattle of dice and sudden shouts of “beetle”. Splendid refreshments were served by the ladies of the Committee and a profit of £436.50 was made for our funds.

The proposed afternoon tea and tours of the church planned for 4th September has had to be cancelled because it clashes with Meldreth Church’s Car Show. Two other selected dates in September were not possible because of the Community Hall being booked. The Committee will meet again to see if a date can be found.

We have two other events in mind but more of that in our next issue. Colin Limming, Publicity Secretary.

The Word of God

from David Burbridge Christ appeared in the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. As it is appointed unto men to die, and after that, the judgement, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto those who look for Him, shall He appear the second time … unto salvation. Hebrews 9. 26-28

All Saints’ Church

Saturday 4th and

Sunday 5th February 2017 We are starting to plan for our sixth winter flower festival at All Saints’. Would you like to be involved?

You don’t have to be a flower arranger to help – you could pick foliage from your garden to be used in arrangements, make refreshments for the arrangers or serve refreshments over the festival weekend … and there are many more ways you could be involved.

We are also interested in hearing from anyone who would like to sponsor an arrangement (full or part).

Each festival has attracted more and more visitors – we hope you will consider becoming involved in some way.

For further information or to offer help please contact Rebecca Gatward by email – rebecca.Gatward@btinternet. com or telephone Rosemary Gatward 01763 261225.