November 2019

Dear Friends One of Aesop’s fables tells of two men walking along a road and finding an axe lying on the ground. They are friends but the man who saw it said “I have found an axe. That will be useful.” “Don’t say I” said the second man, “say we found an axe. We are friends on the road together. Surely it is our axe and we shall sell it and share the money.” The first man would not agree and continued to say that it was his axe. They had not gone much further when the owner of the axe came running towards them. The moment he saw the first man carrying the axe he threatened to prosecute him. “Oh dear!” cried the first man, “we are in trouble.” “Don’t say we” said the second man “say that you are in trouble. You would not let me share the prize, you can hardly expect me to share the trouble.” A nice little story which I suspect will always be relevant! We can all be selfish, particularly when things are going well. Then, when things go wrong we expect others to help us. No one of us is self-sufficient, we all need friends, but we can only have friends if we are friendly too, it is a two way process. This means that we must help others when they are in difficult times even if at the time everything is alright for us. One of the great benefits of belonging to a church or chapel community is the help and support we find there. A chapel like ours is not a place where we should always be hearing “I” and “mine” but rather “we” and “ours.” A place also, where we can enjoy the friendship of others and show friendship ourselves. Every blessing, Andrew

Minister Rev Andrew Parker 0161 366 7989

Chapel Warden Bronwyn Lowe

Chapel Keeper Steve Wilde 07592080600

For general inquiries contact Dawn Buckle 0161 303 8014

Baptisms and Wedding inquiries contact Jennifer Moody 0161 304 8632

Registered Charity Number 1046857

Chapel service (normally) 2.00pm

Sunday School (normally) 2.00pm

Council is grateful for financial support from the East Cheshire Union

of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches

www.ukunitarians.org.uk/dukinfield

FLOWERS FOR NOVEMBER 3 Shirley Richardson In loving memory of Ted Richardson & Janet Boylan 10 Roy & Dawn Buckle In loving memory of Mavis & Dawson Sutcliffe 17 Betty & Jack Bredbury In memory of both Mums and Dads 24 Kevin & Bronwyn Lowe In loving memory of Margaret & John Lowe and Mr & Mrs J Elce

WARDENS WORDS

I don’t know about you but I love this time of year the best.

The colours of the trees are just spectacular. Having “lived “

in the Lake District while I was at college we had some

fabulous Autumn scenes – especially when the hoar frost

hung over the Lake in the early morning (yes we did have to

get up early for Teaching Practice!) At home we have two

small Japanese Acers and their leaves have been wonderful this year. The

sycamores are turning a wonderful yellow and everywhere you walk the

leaves are fluttering down like confetti. Our neighbours Holly bush is just

bursting with berries and it does make me wonder what kind of winter we

are going to have – I’m not sure whether many berries mean a hard winter

to come or that we have just had a good summer! Autumn does give us a

time to reflect on the great things that have happened over the year so far

(and perhaps consider those not so good). Listening to the news of events in

other countries makes me so very grateful that we live in a country where

we are not continually bombed out of our homes and where the loss of a

loved one is not an everyday occurrence. So let us all be grateful this

Autumn for what we have and work towards making not just our town and

our country, but our world a better place for everyone.

Bronwyn

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

Anyone wishing to have their Christmas

messages printed in the December magazine

supplement please remember to give this in to

either Ian or Kevin before the December

Magazine Deadline date—November 17 2019.

Donations for this will be sent to the Send a

Child to Hucklow Fund along with the Christmas Morning offertory.

CRAFTY NATTERING

Tuesday 26 November at 7.00pm. Bring something to keep

your fingers busy and enjoy the company. Tea and cakes

too. All for £2.00 towards the chapel restoration.

Dawn

THANK YOU Can we say a big thank you to all those who made donations to the café this year - we had a marvellous spread and we couldn’t have done it without your help. A special thank you to our “men in marigolds” who once again kept the café supplied with clean cups and saucers – you are super stars! The café team.

QUIZ NIGHT.

On Saturday 16th November it is Quiz Night; our quiz masters once again will be John & Elizabeth Swindells; and it was decided that we would have a Jacobs Supper. So if you are coming along to the quiz and are able to bring along a contribution towards the food there will be a list up in the Community Hall for you to sign up to. If you prefer to bring anything other than what is on the list please write on the list the item you are bringing, this helps us to sample a variety of foods.

Many thanks and good luck with the quiz!

Jennifer

SUNDAY SCHOOL SCENE

Thank you to everyone who supported our Christmas stall at the Autumn Fair and a massive thanks to Marjorie who has worked tirelessly to make the event so successful. With October almost behind us we are turning our thoughts to November. The children for the first time are involved in the Remembrance Service so there are songs to be learned. Mary (G) has been involved with the children making fairies for the Christmas Tree Festival at St Marks in December. Our Gift Service will be held on Sunday 1 December at 2.00pm. We will have Charles visiting us again from Wood Street Mission. We will be donating the gifts you so generously offer to this worthy cause (not gift wrapped). The children have started preparations for the service by designing their Christmas cards. Busy times in Sunday School. Christine and Ann

PANTOMIME SOCIETY

To enable us to produce the pantomime we have to pay royalties which are expensive. We fund this through the functions we offer during the year. The Race Night made us £380 and the Games Night £170 but this is still not enough so we need your support on Fireworks Evening as Cinderella this year is quite expensive. This will be held on Tuesday 5 November at 6.30pm. Adults £3.00 and £1.00 for Children. Donations for fireworks will be gratefully received but must be handed in to the committee members on arrival. We do appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you on the evening. Ann

CHAIR BASED EXERCISE

Tuesday 12 November at 1.30pm. Gentle exercise to keep you active through the winter months. Tea and biscuits to follow. £2.00 donation. Come and join us. Dawn

FUND RAISING

Our Autumn Fair last month was a huge success, and that was down to hard work and generosity on the part of so many people. Thanks go to all those who gave of their time, money and energy to make the fair such a great event. Our talk last month on Rags Bones and Donkeys stones was a great event too, bringing back many memories for most people who were there – a certain young lady will always remember the Ovaltinies with laughter! This month our main fund raising event is our popular Quiz Night hosted by John and Elizabeth. This will be held on Saturday 16 November at 7.30pm in our Community Hall. Marjorie Lord has agreed to organise the door and raffle, but the supper will be a Jacobs Supper so please sign up on the sheet in the foyer alongside the food that you are going to bring. The charge will the usual £5 including 2 raffle tickets, so bring along a friend – and if you haven’t got a team come along and join one (there’s always room for more people who are quick with answers!!) Bronwyn

CHRISTMAS GIFT SERVICE

Advanced notice - As the Christmas Gift

Service falls on the 1 December please don’t

forget that your gifts need to be new and

unwrapped

TRUSTEES UPDATE

At the beginning of October Bronwyn, Kevin Ian and I met with the architect Mark Pearce to discuss how to proceed with the Heritage Lottery Bid. It was decided that this time we apply for the smaller amount of £250,000 and hope we are successful with our bid. This was put to the rest of the Trustees at our meeting in October and it was agreed that we go ahead. If we are successful, the money will help towards the work required and ensure that the lower roofs are watertight. Obviously all this will take time but we will keep you updated.

Mark had another look round Chapel while he was here and although we were aware the stained-glass windows need repair work on them, this was something Mark pointed out to us too.

As always thank you for your support

Jennifer

Chair of Trustees

WORCOM On the 6th October we held a congregational meeting for Worcom , your opportunity to give your views and ideas on previous and future worship here at Old Chapel . On this occasion we only had ten members in attendance and apologies from four others. Bearing this in mind it was decided to bring this meeting in future to the month of August for two reasons - to enable me to book pulpit supply dates much easier and to hope that more would attend on a summer evening instead of a dark night. This is what we agreed for the coming 12 months. Remembrance Day service would take the form of songs from both Wars starting at 2pm as normal but would end to give time for everyone to join in the service at the War Memorial and for our Chapel Warden to lay a wreath of poppies on our behalf. The West Window to be lit during the Christmas Season from the 30th November The Gift Service to be held on 1st December at 2pm with gifts going to Wood Street Mission and the collection going to the Believe and Achieve Charity. also, the Smartie tube appeal would be started and tubes given out. On the 10th December at 7.30pm we will be hosting the Memorial service once again in conjunction with Raymond Massey Undertakers for which we thank them for the continued support they give us. The Sunday School will be holding the Christmas Party on the 15th December for the Children 22nd December will be the Candlelight carol service at 6pm Christmas Day Service will be taken by Mr Ian Peace at 10.45 There will be no service on the 29th December

26th January Favourite Hymns Service (watch out for your voting slips) 16th February Prize Giving Service by the Sunday School 1st March Anniversary service will be conducted by our Student Minister Laura Dobson and afterwards the AGM of the congregation will be held 22nd March Mothering Sunday I am pleased to announce that Mrs Sue Elias accepted our invitation to conduct this service. G A Meetings in Birmingham 7th to the 9th April 12th April Easter Sunday I am pleased to announce that Mr Len Elias accepted our invitation to conduct this service. 26th April Dukinfield Songs of Praise to be held at The Methodist Church Wellington Street. 9th May NUSSU Arts and Crafts at Dukinfield 10th May Sunday School Anniversary service 21st May East Cheshire Union AGM to be held at Old Chapel at 7pm. 7th June Whit Sunday assemble at 9.15am to depart at 9.30am no service that day 13th June North West Provincial Assembly AGM to be held at Old Chapel 10am till 4pm 21st June Father’s Day Service I will be inviting a guest preacher on this occasion 28th G A Sunday we hope to invite Ann Mills to conduct this service 5th July Flower Service 19th July Sunday school closed for the summer

9th August It was decided that this year’s Congregational visit will be to Kendal Unitarian Church with them celebrating their 300th Year more details to follow in 2020 6th September Sunday School reopens 11th to the 20th September are the dates for this year’s Heritage weekend (our dates of opening to be confirmed) Here are some more following dates more details to follow nearer the time 4th October Harvest festival 8th November Remembrance Sunday 6th December Gift Service 20th December Candlelight Carol service 25th December Christmas Day Mrs Bronwyn Lowe I would like to thank everyone who took a service and to those who will be taking future services in the next 12 months. Anyone who would like to conduct a service please have a word with me. Thanks Steve

FOR THE RECORDS Weddings On 12 October conducted by our Minister, Rev Andrew Parker, Victoria Jane Chesters and Stuart William Shaw On 19 October conducted by our Minister, Rev Andrew Parker, Sophie Jane Thompson and Callum Anthony Thompson Future dates Baptisms 17 Nov @ 11.30am

Garden of Remembrance for November at rest in Gods garden Jack Bagwell 1972 Earnest Richardson 1973 Marshall Stafford 1974 James Smith 1974 Edith Lees 1975 Annie Bancroft 1976 Richard Wilson Barnes 1987 Norman Crosby 1990 Albert Edward Richardson 1994 Alice Marsden 1997 Edna Trow 2002 In worship and friendship Steve

WELCOMERS FOR NOVEMBER 3 Sunday School 10 Ian & Stephen 17 Mary B 24 Susan & Muriel

TEA ROTA Bronwyn and Kevin Jennifer and Judith Mary B and Dawn Ian and Marjorie L

DIARY FOR NOVEMBER 2019

3 Sun Service at 2.00pm: Laura Dobson 5 Tue Pantomime Fun and Fireworks 6 Wed Karate 6 Wed Council meeting at 7.30pm 10 Sun Remembrance Service at 2.00pm – Songs from the Wars 12 Tue Chair based exercise: 1.30pm – 2.30pm 13 Wed B’Inspired: 8.30am – 4.30pm (in the extension) 13 Wed Cheshire Family History Group - Afternoon 13 Wed Karate 14 Thu B’Inspired: 8.30am – 4.30pm 15 Fri B’Inspired: 8.30am – 4.30pm 16 Sat Quiz Night at 7.30pm: John and Elizabeth 17 Sun Service at 2.00pm: Rev Andrew Parker 17 Sun Deadline date for Dec/Jan magazine 20 Wed Karate 24 Sun Service at 2.00pm: Jennifer Moody 24 Sun Dec/Jan magazine out 26 Tue Crafty Natttering at 7.00pm 27 Wed Karate Dec 1 Sun Gift Service at 2.00pm: Rev Andrew Parker 1 Sun Smartie Tubes distributed 1 Sun CCMTT dress rehearsal at 4.30pm