methodist and united reformed church news in … · jean fish tel 773935 ... 10.30am doreen...
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CHURCH DIRECTORY BOLTON ROAD Secretary: Susan Blezard, 31 Cranberry Close, Darwen CENTRAL: Secretary: John East Tel 01254 771957 email. [email protected] Room Lettings: Janice Cowell Tel 01254 706379 email:[email protected] NEW CHURCH Stewards: Anne Halliwell, 11 Pembroke Court, George St, Darwen BB3 0HH Tel 776914 Jennifer Battrick, 62 Birch Hall Ave., Darwen Val Gregory Tel 705314 Jean Fish Tel 773935 Room Lettings: Marion Haslam, 4 Sunnyhurst Close, Darwen Tel: 773633 SPRING VALE Stewards: Janet Ashton, 11 Knowsley Meadows, Darwen Lilian Nicholson, 660 Bolton Road, Darwen
Julie Claux, 137 Harwood Street, Darwen
Chris Allan, 2 Sudell Close, Darwen
Irene Hindle
Donna Boothman
Julie Jones
Room Lettings: David Foster, 4 Derby Close, Darwen Tel 703858
email: [email protected]
TRINITY, LOWER DARWEN Secretary: George Grime Tel 01254 54305 email: [email protected] TOCKHOLES: Secretary: Kathleen Knowles, 12 Alexandra View, Darwen
CHURCH NEWS EDITOR Liz Rutherford 68 Barley Bank Street, Darwen Tel 774715 email: [email protected] FORMAL YOUTH ORGANISATIONS Spring Vale: Guides, Brownies, Rainbows; New Church: Brownies, Rainbows
PARENT AND TODDLER GROUPS Weekday Groups at Central, Spring Vale, Trinity and New Church ENQUIRIES: The Churches welcome all enquiries. For Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals please contact one of the Ministers before any other arrangements are made. Other enquiries may be made through the Ministers, Secretaries or Stewards.
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"Methodist and United Reformed Church News in Darwen”
Working together to learn, live, love and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
August/September 2016
BOLTON ROAD
CENTRAL
NEW CHURCH
SPRING VALE
TRINITY
TOCKHOLES
MINISTERS Rev Louise Makin 2 Highercroft Road Lower Darwen, BB3 0QR (01254 678858) Rev Catherine Lewis–Smith 19 Dominica Avenue, Lower Darwen BB3 0SG email [email protected] (01254 952558 07486 977524)
Central Website: www.centralurcdarwen.org.uk
Methodist Website: www.westpenninemoorscircuit.org.uk
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WORSHIP FOR AUGUST
SUNDAY 7th AUGUST
Bolton Road 10.30am Doreen Goodship: Joint Communion Service
Central 10.30am At Bolton Road
New Church 10.30am Rev Christine Leech:: Communion
Spring Vale 10.45am Rev Terry Young: Communion
Trinity 10.30am Kath Hodkinson Jack Williamson
Tockholes 2.00pm Rev Terry Young
SUNDAY 14th AUGUST
Bolton Road 10.30am Rev Terry Young Doris Hamer
Central 10.30am Rev Catherine Lewis-Smith: Communion Bill Chynoweth
New Church 10.30am Songs of Praise
Spring Vale 10.45am Songs of Praise
Trinity 10.30am Doreen Goodship Bryan Weal
Tockholes 2.00pm Catherine Young
SUNDAY 21st AUGUST
Bolton Road 10.30am John East Val Carr
Central 10.30am Colin Garley Andrew Robinson
New Church 10.30am Charlotte Rumble
Spring Vale 10.45am Debra Phillips
Trinity 10.30am Rev C. Lewis-Smith: Communion Sylvia Soltau
Tockholes 2.00pm Rev Catherine Lewis-Smith: Communion
SUNDAY 28th AUGUST
Bolton Road 10.30am At Central
Central 10.30am John East Doreen Bannister
New Church 10.30am Dr GJ Murali: Joint Service
Spring Vale 10.45am At New Church
Trinity 10.30am Barbara Duxbury Sarah Weal
Tockholes 2.00pm Rev Terry Young 23
BIBLE READINGS
AUGUST SEPTEMBER
Answer to last Word Search—More Bible Words: Judgment
Deadline for October/November magazine: Sunday 18th September, 2016
1 Matthew 14.1-12 2 John 6 24-35 3 Matthew 14.13-21 4 Matthew 14.22-end 5 Matthew 15.1-20 6 Matthew 15.21-28 7 Matthew 16.24-end 8 Matthew 17.14-20 9 John 6.35.41-51 10 Matthew 17.22-end 11 Matthew 18.1-14 12 Matthew 18.15-20 13 Matthew 18.21-19.1 14 Matthew 19.3-12 15 Luke 1.46-55 16 John 6.51-58 17 Matthew 19.16-22 18 Matthew19.23-end 19 Matthew 20.1-16 20 Matthew 22.1-14 21 Matthew 22.34-40 22 Matthew 23.1-12 23 John 6.56-69 24 Matthew 23.13-22 25 Matthew 23.23-26 26 Matthew 23.27-32 27 Matthew 24.42-end 28 Matthew 25.1-13 29 Matthew 25.14-30 30 Mark 7.1-8.14,15.21-23 31 Haggai 1.1-11
1 Haggai 1.12-2.9 2 Haggai 2.10-end 3 Zechariah 1.1-17 4 Zechariah 1.18-end of 2 5 Zechariah 3 6 Mark 7.24-end 7 Zechariah 4 8 Zechariah 6.9-end 9 Zechariah 7 10 Zechariah 8.1-8 11 Zechariah 8.9-end 12 Zechariah 9.1-12 13 Mark 8.27-end 14 Zechariah 10.1-6 15 Zechariah 11.4-end 16 Zechariah 12.1-10 17 Zechariah 13 18 Zechariah 14.1-11 19 Zechariah 14.12-end 20 Mark 9.30-37 21 Psalm 49 1-15 22 Ezekiel 1.15-2.2 23 Ezekiel 2.3-3.11 24 Ezekiel 3.12-end 25 Ezekiel 8 26 Ezekiel 9 27 Mark 9.38-end 28 Ezekiel 10.1-19 29 Ezekiel 11.16-end 30 Ezekiel 12.1-16
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GROUPS AT NEW CHURCH
Sunday
10.30 am Sunday Service with Junior Church
2nd Sunday in month All Age Worship
Monday 1.00pm to 2.30 pm Stay & Play—parents/carers, babies and toddlers
Monday 6.15pm to 7.30 pm Rainbows
Monday 6.30pm to 8.00 pm Brownies
Tuesday 7.00 pm Unity Choir
Wednesday 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm Trefoil Guild (once a month)
Thursday 9.30 am to 10.30 am Weight Watchers
Thursday 11.00 am to 12 noon Baby Signing (term time only)
Thursday 5.00 pm to 6.30 pm Weight Watchers
Thursday 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm Home Group
Friday 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm West Pennine Slings Group for parents/carers, babies & toddlers (for parents/carers wishing to know more about baby carriers and slings)
Saturday 8.30 am to 10 am Weight Watchers
Saturday 10.00 am to 3.30 pm Spinners, Weavers and Dyers 2nd Sat each month
Line Dancing meets each Monday 7 to 8.30 pm
Rainbows, Brownies and Guides meet every Tues & Weds 6 to 9 pm
TWINKLE Twins Little Star (a Group for parents of twins, triplets, quads etc) Toddler & Support group – Wednesday 10.30am – 12.30pm
Stay and Play Toddler Group each Thursday 10.30 am to 12 noon Parent/Carers and toddler group.
Spring in Your Step Over 50’s 1 to 3 pm every Thursday Guest speakers, activities, film afternoons and games
Also Dance Crazy Theatre School classes during the week
Sunday Worship every Sunday at 10.45 am
GROUPS AT SPRING VALE
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WORSHIP FOR SEPTEMBER
SUNDAY 4th SEPTEMBER
Bolton Road 10.30am Rev Geoff Tolley: Communion Junior Church
Central 9.30am John East: Communion
10.30am John East Anne Adamson
New Church 10.30am Rev Keith Richardson: Communion
Spring Vale 10.45am Rev Louise Makin: All Age Worship
Trinity 10.30am Rev John Howard-Norman: Communion
Tockholes 2.00pm Catherine Young: All Age Worship
SUNDAY 11th SEPTEMBER
Bolton Road 10.30am Barbara Duxbury Marjorie Meadowcroft
Central 10.30am Rev Sarah Moore: Communion Beryl Shaw
New Church 10.30am Bryan Lamb: All Age Worship
Spring Vale 10.45am Dr GJ Murali
Trinity 10.30am Doreen Goodship
Tockholes 2.00pm Rev Sarah Moore
SUNDAY 18th SEPTEMBER
Bolton Road 10.30am Kath Hodkinson Gordon Beveridge
Central 10.30am Barbara Duxbury Liz Rutherford
New Church 10.30am Rev Louise Makin: Harvest Thanksgiving
Spring Vale 10.45am Bryan Lamb
Trinity 10.30am Rev Catherine Lewis-Smith
Tockholes 2.00pm Rev Geoff Tolley: Communion
SUNDAY 25th SEPTEMBER
Bolton Road 10.30am Doreen Goodship Philip Entwistle
Central 10.30am Rev Catherine Lewis-Smith: Harvest Festival Bert Bannister
New Church 10.30am Rev Geoffrey Peddie
Spring Vale 10.45am Revs Louise Makin/Christine Leech: Communion
Trinity 10.30am Colin Garley: Harvest Thanksgiving
Tockholes 2.00pm Rev Catherine Lewis-Smith
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MINISTER’S LETTER
If you look closely, next week at church, or perhaps the week after, there may be a new visitor. You may not see them at first, and even when you do, you may not be sure what to call this strange creature – but in churches all over North America and the UK, and soon worldwide, Pokémon have been sighted in the buildings. A friend sighted one at the steps to the communion table last week. Another has seen them in the halls. And where the Pokémon go (sorry for the pun), young people and younger adults follow. How will we welcome them, when we find them gathered in
the church car park, or daring to step through the church
porch door? First impressions count. Our grandfathers and
grandmothers would have scolded them out of the building
for daring to turn up other than for pious purpose, but is that
what we should do? Far better, I think to make them wel-
come. Farnham URC checked whether they were listed as a
“pokestop” inside the game straightaway, and they put up
signs by the front door telling the gamers that they are wel-
come to come inside, to use the café, and to make use of
any plug sockets not needed by the church to recharge their
phones while they are visiting. That experience of being
made welcome will also be a first impression that counts for
many visitors.
I can feel some of you rolling your eyes at the very idea of
Pokémon Go. And others wondering with bemusement
what it is. It’s a game played through smartphones that
places fictional creatures at real places in towns and cities,
and players are encouraged to catch as many of the crea-
tures as they can. Although it is very much the kind of game
I would like to play - some of you will know that I used to
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Central Flower Rota
August
7th No flowers—Joint service at Bolton Road URC
14th ‘In memory of Diana’ (Wignall)
21st ‘In memory’ Kathleen Knowles and family
28th Goodship family memories
September
4th ‘In memory of Brenda’ Norman, Gareth and Ruth
11th Dorothy and Kevin Yates
18th ‘In memory of loved ones’ Beryl Slater
25th ‘In memory of family’ Doris and Ron Whalley
Central Coffee Rota
August
7th Church closed
14th Kathleen Knowles, Doreen Bannister, Margaret Burns. 21st Janice Cowell, Elsa Peacock, Liz Rutherford, 28th Dorothy Yates, Mavis Aspinall Karen Narramore.
September
4th Beyl Shaw, Annette Barker, Margaret East. 11th Beryl Slater, Lynda Reay, Alan Whittle. 18th Barbara Duxbury, Margaret Williams, Annette Barker,
25th Janice Cowell, Elsa Peacock, Liz Rutherford.
Central Communion Rota
August Eunice Yates, Dorothy Yates*, Jean Yates, Janice Cowell
September Alison Atherton, Janice Cowell*, Barbara Duxbury, John East
*denotes who is to supply bread. If you are not available, please arrange a replace-
ment, stroke your name out and choose an alternative month.
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FLOWER ROTAS—AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Bolton Road Flower Rota
August 7th Flower Fund 14th Peter & Susan Blezard Wedding Anniversary 21st Mr & Mrs Gordon Beveridge Memories 28th At Central URC September 4th Treasured Memories of Doc Stuttard and Dad Stephen & Beverley Rees 11th Birthday Remembrance for a dear Mum, Sally, also Dad who passed away on her birthday. Beryl, Keith and family. 18th Mike & Betty Power ‘Memories’
25th Flower Fund
Tockholes Flower Rota
August
7th Mrs M Jump ‘Birthday Memories’ 14th Mr J Smith & Family 21st Mr & Mrs S Hargreaves 28th Mrs H Woolford ’In Memory’ September
4th Family of Joyce, Vernon & Ann ‘In Memory’ 11th HARVEST 18th Mr G Swanton 25th Mr & Mrs A Gillett ‘Birthday Memories’ Spring Vale Flower Rota
August
7th Jenny Atkinson
14th Karimeh & David Foster 21st Sharon, Renee & Chris Allan 28th Joint service New Church September
4th Alice Moss 11th Sharon, Renne & Chris Allan 18th Jenny Atkinson 25th Margaret Huggill
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run a church on the internet – I haven’t signed up. I think I would enjoy it too much, and it would take up too much time, but also that there are better games for me to be playing right now. Last month I played my way through the storytelling game, “This Dragon, Cancer” which explores a father’s per-spective on the life and early death of a child, and encourages the player to imagine living through that loss. Games like that enrich understanding as effectively as a play or a novel, and have a lasting impact on the player. But returning to Pokémon Go, and the players it may bring into some of our buildings. Perhaps we should think of them in the same benevolent way that we think of those brought in for the first time by a heritage open day – their primary inten-tion on entering the building may not be worship or learning, but being in our space. There are churches who are opening the building at young person-friendly times, with their children and youth workers on hand to keep young people safe and make them welcome. There are others with a box of snacks in the church porch, and signs telling the gamers they are wel-come to come back if they want. It is unlikely that a fleeting visit will lead to someone suddenly turning to Christ, though the Holy Spirit catches whomever it will. Yet it is likely that a curmudgeonly response will be remembered and create an unnecessary stumbling block for future relationships with church. If you get the chance to welcome a Pokémon player, do it in a way which honours Jesus. And perhaps smile at the ease with which young people play in ways you might never have imagined, as they grow into a world that is increasingly more connected by networks we cannot see.
Catherine
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FELLOWSHIP NEWS—CENTRAL
The (supposed) advent of Summer was celebrated with a Summer Sup-per Evening at the home of Alizon & Dave Elliott. Congenial company and tasty food meant that a lovely time was had by all. A total of £220 was raised by this event. Many thanks to Alizon and Dave for their hospi-tality. Also appealing to our stomachs was ‘Sausage Saturday’ held at Central. This was an enterprising event to raise money for Karen Narramore’s son, Tom. He is taking on the massive challenge of climbing Mount Kili-manjaro in Tanzania to help the children’s rights charity Childreach Inter-national. We wish him all the best in this amazing endeavour and look forward to hearing all about it when he comes back. We are pleased to have been able to contribute to the expenses of An-drew Mudahara’s visit to Cuba. This is part of his second year of training for the ministry. All of us who know Andrew know he will make the most of this experience. We send him our prayers and good wishes as he con-tinues his training. The flowers in Central are commented on virtually every week for their beautiful arrangements. Jean Yates, who spends a considerable time after each service distributing the flowers, thanked the team of flower arrangers who use their time and talents to adorn our church. These in-clude Janet Pickering, Eileen Pye, Beryl Hubbard, Margaret Oldham and Paula Chynoweth. Thanks also to all those who have been working in the church garden recently, with some welcome help from friends from the Wednesday drop-in group. If anyone feels able to help with keeping our grounds tidy and colourful, please have a word with Jean Yates.
Those who have celebrated birthdays recently are Liz Rutherford, Ken Fish, Eunice Yates, Martin Wood, Olive Hargreaves, Janice Cowell and Dorothy Yates.
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CENTRAL CALENDAR FOR AUGUST/SEPTEMBER
Church Meeting—Tuesday 13th September 7 pm in church Midweek Communion Wednesday 12 noon— 17th August and 21st September. Bible Study Bridge Street Cafe Wednesday 10.00 am—closed in August, recom-mences 14th September. Meditation Group every Wednesday in church 6.30 to 7.15 pm—closed in August, re-commences September. Book Club (Tel Anne Grimson 01254 703994) 9th Aug The Son by Michael Rostain 13th Sept (waiting to hear from library re title)
Monday 9.00am to 11.00am Mums and Tots
1st Monday in the month 1.30pm to 3.30pm Blind Society
Monday 6.00pm to 8.30pm Ballroom/Sequence Dancing
Tuesday 4.30pm to 8.15pm Donna’s Dance Academy
Wednesday 9.00am to 1.30pm Refugee Drop-In Club
Wednesday 2.00pm to 4.00pm Ashleigh Singers
Wednesday 6.30pm to 7.15pm Meditation Group
1st Thursday in month 2.00pm to 4.00pm Townswomen’s Guild
3rd Thursday in month 2.15pm to 4.00pm Church Guild
Every other Thursday in month 9.00am to 12.00noon PROBUS
Friday 4.30pm to 8.15pm Donna’s Dance Academy
Saturday 8.30am to 11.00am Slimming World
GROUPS WHO MEET AT CENTRAL
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Word Search– First Fruits
Try to find the mystery answer: after you have found all the words, sort the left-over letters into the correct order to form the mystery answer.
Blessings, Cheerful giver, Christians, Church, Contributions, Deuteronomy, Exodus, Firstfruits, God, Hebrew, I Corinthians, II Chronicles, Ingathering, Israel-ites, Leviticus, Lord, Moses, Nehemiah, Nisan, Offerings, Omer, Passover, Pesach, Plentiful, Produce, Sow, Tab-ernacle Feast, Weeks Feast, Wheat harvest
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We have also celebrated several wedding anniversaries. Among them are those of Tom & Beryl Slater – their Diamond anniversary! Dorothy and Terry Yates marked 30 years of marriage. Jean & David Yates, Ken & Janet Pickering and Janice and Trevor Cowell have also had wedding an-niversaries recently. We were so pleased to hear of the arrival of a new grandson for Margaret Oldham. Irene Gordon told us that her granddaughter had gained 1st class honours in her degree. Eunice Yates granddaughter has also passed with 1st class honours. Many congratulations to all concerned. Among the people we have remembered in our prayers are Margaret Wil-liams, Bobbie Wainwright, John East, Ruth East, Peter Blezard, Margaret Yates, Madge O’Toole and Olive Hargreaves.
Janet Goodship
TRINITY
We have helped celebrate two christenings and a wedding at Trinity re-cently. On 5th June Catherine baptised Jack Joshua Lovejoy, son of An-drew and Deborah, and on 26th June we welcomed the family and friends of Marley Joshua John, son of Danielle and Joshua. On 11th June the church was full as Gemma Hartley and Ryan Kelly were married. We wish all these families every happiness in the future.
We have wished happy birthday to Mary and Lilian's mum, and congratu-lated Joanne and Stephen Henry on their 11th wedding anniversary. We were very happy to hear that Sylvia and Bill's granddaughter has recently graduated, and we congratulated Sheila and Jack on the birth of a great-grandson, named Jack after his great-grandfather!
In our prayers recently we have remembered Hilda's neighbour Jean, Jack's daughter Susan, who has broken her foot and had to cancel her holiday, Bill Soltau, Ned, Ruth's husband Bert, Irene, and Colin's sister
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SPRING VALE
Can we believe that we are nearing the end of July already. For the congrega-tion at Spring Vale the summer is tinged with sadness as we prepare for the departure of Dave and Debbie, as they head off to Sherwood to take up their new ministry. We wish them not just goodbye but also continued happiness and success as they now continue on their journey within the Methodist Church. Without doubt we are going to miss them so much. They have brought so much to Spring Vale over the last 5 years; providing us with their support and inspiration, and helping us grow in faith, mission and discipleship, both together and within the wider community. Debbie and Dave will stay in our hearts and be fondly remembered at Spring Vale. It was therefore lovely to share our final service with both Dave and Debbie, and look back over the five years. Julie Claux had put together some lovely words which reflected on what they had brought to the church, and how much it meant to us all. Thank you Julie for taking the time to sum up so wonderfully our feelings. We were also able to present Debbie and Dave with farewell cards and gifts, and share refreshments and fellowship afterwards. We now have to look forwards as we welcome our new minister Louise Makin at the end of August and start a new journey as a church. It will be another special time in the life of the church as we get to know Louise and her family and embark on a new journey. Some weeks ago we held a quiz night and potato pie supper, which was much enjoyed by those who attended, and a thank you must go to Karimeh and David for arranging the event. Our church now has a beautifully restored floor, thanks to a fantastic team of people who worked tirelessly to get this completed as quickly as possible. The work was so obviously a huge undertaking, and we all appreciate the hard work and commitment that was given to the task.
Our groups continue to flourish: the choir group is now also meeting on a regu-lar basis on Fridays at 7.00 pm, all are welcome if you think this is something you would enjoy; the Stay and Play group meets each Thursday from 10.30am - 12.00pm, and is followed by the Spring In Your Step group at 1.00pm - 3.00pm; on Thursday 28th July the Spring In In Your Step group meets
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Trinity Church, Lower Darwen
ANNUAL BARBEQUE at 112 Sandy Lane, Lower Darwen
Sunday 4th September—4 pm onwards Bring your own drinks
Tickets £6.50 Family tickets available *** Raffle *** Hot tub ***
Everyone welcome
Central URC Darwen
Harvest Supper Evening Saturday 24th September 2016 Live entertainment and Raffle
From 7pm. Tickets £8 from Eileen or Janice
Everyone welcome
New Methodist Church - Tuesday 4th October at 7pm. "A Grain of Mustard Seed" By Unity Choir
Please come along and enjoy this story in song. A collection will be taken and donated to Action for Children.
For Events at Tockholes—please see page 11 of magazine
NEW CHURCH On August Bank Holiday Monday 29th August.
We are having our usual table-top sale and good-as-new clothes sale. 10.30am - 1.30pm
Light lunches will be available from 11.30am
Please come along grab a bargain, have lunch and a chat.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks all at Central and other churches for prayers and care during
my short stay in hospital and for those who continued my duties. Maybe
time to take it easy for a while ! John East
Thomas and Karen Narramore would like to thank everyone who has supported our fundraising efforts for Tom's sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, in aid of Childreach International. Our Sausage Saturday event raised £240 and the generous sponsorship contributions by friends at Central and Bolton Road brought the total to just over £400. Thanks so much for your support, not forgetting those who donated prizes for our raffle and tombola, and of course those who came and enjoyed our sausage butties and cakes! Tom leaves for Tanzania on 16th August and your prayers for a safe expedition for him and his party would be much appreciated.
CHRISTIAN AID
The total amount raised throughout the year was £701.43 from events and donations. Many thanks to everyone for supporting this very worth-while cause.
Jean Yates and Liz Rutherford
AFRICAN EVENING ON BEHALF OF DARE On Friday 15th July a number of people from Central URC attended an Afri-can Evening at St Edwards. What a wonderful evening it was, based on the Lion King theme, with music and dancing performed by the children from the Rothwell Arts Academy, who put their hearts and souls (not forgetting their hands and feet!) into presenting a magnificent performance. The buffet was a sight to behold and a joy to taste with African and lots of other food to tempt the taste buds. A few of us also had a go at Zumba dancing! We were afforded a very warm welcome by our hosts at St Edwards who worked extremely hard to make the evening a huge success.
Liz Rutherford
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at 1.00pm - 3.00pm. On Thursday 28th July the Spring In your Step group are hosting a Tea Dance Celebration which promises to be a lovely afternoon. Also looking into August, we have a service on the 14th which will be the first to be led by our two new newly appointed worship leaders Julie Claux and Julie Jones. They are eager for all the congregation to participate and please let them know if you have a favourite hymn, reading or prayer that you would like to be included; this will be a very special service for us all. Finally, as always, thank you to everyone who carries out the week to week tasks big and small which are essential to our church life.
Irene Hindle
BOLTON ROAD
Many of our fellowship members have been away on holiday and we hope they have enjoyed their times of refreshment and relaxation. Also, at this time, we think of our young people at school and college. We especially think about Ben who has now left Blackburn College and Amelia who is leaving primary school and will be moving on to the next stage of her education at Canon Slade in Sep-tember. We wish them both well for the future. A message from Sandra Ratcliffe “Having arrived in Darwen April 1963, never having been for a visit, was an excit-ing time. Some will know my story. I came here with my parents Pastor and Mrs J Thexton, met my future husband Jim the next day (in Cub Scout Leader’s uni-form). We married in April 1965 and were involved with several organisations and spent a lot of time with children and young people. Sadly Jim died suddenly in April 2011, having been married just 46 years. I would like to thank all who have shown me Christian love and support especially these last few years. Now I am leaving for a new adventure to Cheadle, Manchester to be nearer my daughter Elaine and her husband Scott. God Bless Sandra Ratcliffe.”
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BOLTON ROAD cont..
Quite a lot of the longstanding members of Bolton Road know Sandra and
Elaine, whilst also fondly remembering Jim and Sandra’s parents. They were all
very much involved in giving their time and support in many ways to the church.
We know too that Sandra has been planning her move for quite a while and are
pleased that things are now going smoothly for her. We send our very best
wishes to Sandra and family and pray that she will settle well and be very happy
in her new home. We will keep in touch. Susan Blezard
TOCKHOLES
Summer has been a busy time at Tockholes. Although I write this update on a Sunday when we have our summer closure, there seem to have been many events to celebrate and give thanks for over the last few months. On Sunday 26 June the Unity Choir joined us for our Annual Anniversary Ser-mons Service. It was the first conducted by our new Minister, Reverend Cath-erine Lewis-Smith, who led us in a thought-provoking journey through the story of 'Jonah and the Whale'. The service, and the Afternoon Tea we shared after-wards were enjoyed by all. Many thanks to all those friends who joined us on the day, and in particular to those who brought sandwiches and cakes and helped us serve on the day. We have celebrated two weddings recently - on 25 June Michael Glancy and Jennifer Potter became man and wife, and on 9 July Matthew Grayson and Sarah Hargreaves were married. Our love and special wishes are extended to both couples as they begin their new lives together. Another cause for celebration over the summer was our very own Rev. Terry Young taking a trip to London to receive his much-deserved MBE from Princess Anne. We hope that Catherine and yourself had a wonderful trip, and that you have some amazing photos to make the memory last a lifetime.
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DARWEN CHRISTIANS TOGETHER
TWO EVENTS
All the Fun of the Fair
Saturday 20th August 2016 1 pm DARWEN GALA
Volunteers needed to help man the stall. Thank you
Come and meet Charles Sagar With the Unity Choir
at
Darwen Heritage Weekend Sunday 18th September 2016
2.30 pm to 4.30 pm Free Admission
Buffet tea will be provided Lower Chapel, Chapels, Darwen, BB3 0EE
Tearfund Big Bake (please bring along your cakes in support of this wonderful initiative)
Both events raising funds in aid of
‘Tearfund’s No Child Taken’ campaign
Simon Huggill: [email protected] 704029 Kath Hodkinson: [email protected] 772436
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NOAH, 'a musical adventure' was staged at New Church, on Friday 3rd June, which was a joint effort by leaders and helpers of Stay and Play New Church and Little Lambs toddler group at Rhyddings Methodist Church. The Church staged the puppet show with songs by Doug Horley. This was a great success and I was pleased to see so many young children bring their mum/carers along. There must have been about 30 children who joined in and had a great time. Refreshments of every kind of fruit was available and juice/coffee/tea also. A big thank you to all who put so much time and effort into the event. Sunday 10th July was a special service led by Rev. John Howard-Norman to highlight Action for Children, formally know as NCH (National Children’s Homes). Rev John reminded us of the founding of the charity 145 years ago by Rev. Stephenson, a Meth-odist minister in London. He was so appalled seeing young orphans sleeping under bridges and in doorways that he purchased a disused building and along with friends turned it into a place where these children could safely stay. Later realising that a smoggy dirty city was not a healthy place for the orphans, he accepted the offer of some land owned by Mr. Barlow and family in Edgworth. The children were brought to Edgworth and in fact helped to quarry and build several homes for orphans. These were know as National Children’s Homes and were the start of several such homes built through the country. The work of Action for Children now concentrates on trying to keep children with their own families and peers and offers support and guidance to families in desperate need.
Thank you to all who helped raise around £200 for Action for Children from the collec-
tion at the service and home boxes.
The Harvest service on 18th September is also our 'Back to Church Sunday' when we
ask everyone to invite and bring a neighbour or friend to the service at 10.30 am.
Marion Haslam
Unity Choir The Unity Choir which meets on Tuesdays at New Church will resume re-hearsals on Tuesday September 6th. New members are always welcome. The Choir is currently preparing the Roger Jones’ musical “A Grain of Mus-tard Seed”, which tells the story of the early days of the Sunday School movement. All are welcome to the performance which will be held at New Church on Tuesday October 4th at 7.p.m.
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Our graveyard is looking especially neat and tidy at the minute - due to the love and attention it's receiving from George Swanton, Steve Hargreaves and Glynis Hargreaves, who are volunteering their time to undertake gardening duties! Thank you from all at Tockholes Chapel for your hard work. Looking forwards, we have a new event taking place on Saturday 13 August, at 10am in Tockholes Village Hall. There will be lots of flipping and tossing taking place............................don't worry - it's not a gymnastics session, but our very own Masterchef, Rev. Catherine will be hosting a 'Pancake Morning'. A new twist on the Coffee Morning; it sounds like lots of fun to be had! Please join us if you dare! Entry will be £4, and you'll be able to eat as many sweet and savoury pancakes as can be made in 2 hours! (Hope you've got those bicep exercises going Rev Catherine!) Tea and Coffee will also be served on the day. The weekend of 10th and 11th September will be our Heritage weekend and Harvest Festival. Our Chapel will be open to visitors on Saturday 10th from 2-4pm when we will also receive gifts to decorate in advance of our Harvest Ser-vice at 2pm on Sunday 11th. The service will be particularly special this year, as Rev. Sarah Moore will be returning to conduct the service. I'm sure we're all looking forward to hearing her news from the Lake District and catching-up with a dear friend. Finally, our next Chapel Meeting will be held on October 2nd. Please put the date in your diaries as it would be good to see as many of our congregation as possible helping us to discuss and make key decisions about our Chapel
Emma Jump
Around 28 Yr 4 children visited Central URC Darwen recently as part of the curriculum finding out about other faiths. Central, formerly Duckworth Street, represented the non-conformist tradition. The children explored the sanctuary and were shown the different traditions of bap-tism and communion. The highlight was when the school choir sang a song. Church Secretary, John East, said "the children really enjoyed the experience and widened their knowledge of different faiths. "
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NEW CHURCH
Fundraising at New Church On Saturday the 18th June, Carol Bean opened up her home to hold a coffee morning in aid of Church funds. What a wonderful array of cakes, scones and mini desserts met our eyes as we walked in; delicious they were too. We were all very tempted to stay a while longer than necessary, but we had to think of the calories. Carol raised about £150 for Church funds, so well done Carol and thank you for hosting this event. Then on Saturday the 2nd July, an afternoon tea style lunch was held at New Church. A fantastic selection of sandwiches, pies, mini trifles, scones with jam and cream, and homemade cakes were on offer. There was also a bring and buy stall with a red, white and blue theme. The event was very well attended and we had a great afternoon of fellowship together. A total of £300 was raised. A big thank you to all who helped in any way or provided food. Blessings to you all. Karen Rowley By the time you read this, Rev Debbie and Deacon Dave will sadly have moved on to pastures new. Their ministry at New Church, Spring Vale and Rhyddings Methodist Church Oswaldtwistle, has been such a blessing to us and many lives have been changed. It is with much sadness that we say, not goodbye, but “see you soon”. Sherwood Forest circuit are extremely fortunate to have you. You may no longer be our ministers but you will always be our friends. Thank you to Debbie for holding our last “Prayers for healing” session on Fri-day 22nd July. Twelve of us sat in our peaceful prayer room and were extremely blessed to be part of such a powerful, moving service. We are so going to miss you Debbie and Dave, but you go with our blessing to continue your ministry where God has called you. At the beginning of September our new minister, Rev. Louise Makin and her husband Ian, join us and we give them a very warm welcome. Already we have several dates for regular events which will take place. All are very welcome to attend any of these events.
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Dates for regular events at New Church
We hope some of you will be able to join us. Many blessings to you all, Karen Rowley
Friday 16th September 10.30 am to 11.30 am Prayers for Healing with Rev Louise
Tuesday 20th September 10.30 am to 11.30 am Icky Sticky Art for Toddlers in Church with Rev Louise
Friday 7th October 10.30 am to 12 noon Christian Meditation in the Prayer Room with Rev Louise
Tuesday 18th October 10.30 am to 11.30 am Icky Sticky Art for Toddlers in Church with Rev Louise
Friday 21st October 10.30 am to 11.30 am Prayers for Healing in the Prayer Room with Rev Louise
Friday 4th November 10.30 am to 12 noon Christian Meditation in the Prayer Room with Rev Louise
Tuesday 15th November 10.30 am to 11.30 am Icky Sticky Art in Church with Rev Louise
A tribute to George Pickup who died at 8.30 am on Friday 1st July 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. He was a member of the 11th Battalion of the East Lanca-shire Regiment (Accrington Pals). He was the son of John and Annie Pickup. John was a deacon and church secretary at Duckworth Street Congregational Church. George’s body was never found. He was 27 years old. His parents’ grave is in Darwen Western Cemetery and George is remembered in their grave. Central remembers George and the 1300 other Darwen casualties.
John East