by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
The church continues to be busy with the premises used weekly by the community for FUSS, Pilates, Zumba, Weightwatchers, Slimming World, AA, West Wirral Music Society, Badminton, children’s parties, musical concerts. In addition, we hold weekly Sing and Sign, Parents and Tots, Guides, Food and Friends, What’s the Point, Prayer Meeting, Kidz Klub, Youth Café, Coffee Morning, fortnightly Singing Cafes and monthly Saturday Club, Community Lunch and Whist Evenings. Since our last meeting we have added another Zumba class, an OA class, a monthly Home Instead Connect café for lonely older people and fortnightly all day bookings by Sysco for training of staff.
- It was clear from the community response to the Harvest Shared Meal Celebration, the Eco Festive Fayre and conversations with local people that environmental concerns/issues are high on the agenda for our local community. In addition, the feedback we have had about Forest Church and how pleased the community are,to see the outside of St Luke’s ‘being grown’, supports the consideration that we need to do more activities in this area.
- We held a successful Tearfund Big Quiz with Hotpot Supper and again it was one of those occasions where we had a good number of people who don’t come to church regularly. The people attending “Food and Friends” and “What’s The Point?” enjoy our social gatherings and we need to consider other events that they and others would feel able to come to.
- The outside of our church is a big opportunity. Whether its Remembrance, Christmas, Easter – people do notice what is outside and often stop and take notice. Again this is something we need to capitalise on in the coming year.
- The Hoylake Lights Switch On coinciding with the Eco Festive Fayre saw our car park become a venue for Father Christmas, Carol Singers and two fairground rides. I hadn’t quite anticipated how busy this would be and my thanks to all who helped serve endless cups of tea/coffee on a very cold night; it was a great opportunity to showcase our love and generosity.
Cate Warbrick – Church and Community Lay Development Worker
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
The two Mums & Tots groups have quickly filled up after losing a significant number of children as they start school. Superkids, the infant and junior age club now meets weekly, not fortnightly and numbers have grown significantly, regularly having 30 children. They are desperate for more helpers. If anyone is aware of people in their church who would like to work with children, but their church doesn’t provide that opportunity, they will be very welcome at Moreton! All this is having a positive impact on Sunday worship with Family Services much better attended.
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
At Prenton we hold our version of ‘Messy Church’, which we call ‘Jigsaw’, on a Thursday morning during school holiday times. This time we thought we would launch our new venture of ‘Lego Church’. So a trip to Wilkinsons to buy Lego, The Range for storage boxes, a therapeutic afternoon sorting into colours and we were ready to go!
Our families arrived and 30 children, ranging from ages one to 13, got stuck in to building, with some eager parents standing by to advise! Once all were gathered we stopped to watch a Lego story of the wise man and the foolish man. We thought about house designs and then the children set off to complete the challenge of building houses. These ranged from a small flat roof style to a mansion with outdoor parking and one even had their own pool and hot-tub. A break for tea and toast and then the next challenge of re-sorting the Lego. Every piece made it back to the correct box and great fun was had by all.
Next time Jigsaw will return to its different activities and we hope to continue our Lego Church on the first Saturday of the month when we also hold our monthly coffee morning. Anyone would be very welcome to join us for any of these activities to see what we are doing at Prenton.
In August we will be holding our 26th Annual Summer holiday club when once again we will sharing the stories of Jesus with the children of Prenton.
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Free Uniforms for Primary Schools (FUPS)
At St Andrew’s United Church we are the Wallasey Hub for FUPS. This is a venture which we share with Seacombe United Reformed Church and it is proving very successful.
School uniforms which are no longer required, usually because children have outgrown them, are donated by parents and carers either through the school or directly to us at St Andrew’s. We check and sort them, wash and iron them if necessary (though most are immaculate!), and sometimes replace lost buttons or do other minor repairs. We then store them in our very organised and efficient storeroom until they are needed.
Parents and carers can request any items of uniform and we will do our best to supply them. If there is something we don’t have we can contact other Hubs to see if they can help.
This service has been an enormous help to some families who have financial difficulties, and we are very pleased about that. However, this service is open to everyone, not just those in need. Its purpose is much wider than that. It helps to protect the environment by recycling good quality used clothing which would otherwise probably end up in landfill. Any donated items which are not suitable for redistribution are collected as waste and then used for a variety of purposes.
Thanks go to all our volunteers who help to provide this very worthwhile, successful, and much appreciated service for our community.
Sheila Fidler, St. Andrew’s
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Claremount is one of the many churches and voluntary organisations with a vision and determination to do something about the mismatch between the food needs of local people and food loss from supermarket and other wastage.
We were intrigued by the idea of being a local hub for people who need a bit of help, and for the opportunity to make new friendships while at the same time preventing staggering food waste. We felt this went hand in hand with our aim to serve the community with the love of Jesus Christ and to care for God’s creation.
We therefore entered into a partnership with ‘Fed Up’, a project run by the Wirral Development Trust and funded by Wirral Borough Council set up to combat the rising levels of food poverty in the Wallasey constituency. Their goal is to work with existing charities, community groups, faith groups, schools and businesses to setup hubs within each ward, with the aim of giving people the support they need to move out food poverty.
We are one of fifteen hubs operating throughout the wider Wallasey area, offering a range of services. Claremount offers a social supermarket, open three days a week, where food which would otherwise go to waste can be put to good use.
This initiative goes hand-in-hand with our determination to become a church which cares for the earth. Towards this, the church has recently been awarded a Bronze Award as an Eco church, and is progressing towards the Silver award, joining together with such disparate churches as Salisbury Cathedral and Romsey Methodist Church in Hampshire. You can read more about this initiative at https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/.
Amanda Pauls, Church and Community Development Lay Employee
