Recent Events

July 2011

The Action for Children support team ran an Auction of Promises.

A large range of items were offered, in categories such as home help, transport, hair and beauty, health and fitness, dining (in and out), sport and leisure and use of a holiday apartment in the Lake District. As a result of several bidding wars, the impressive sum of £2750 was raised for Action for Children.

May 2011

This month saw our bi-annual Daley Sketches when all the Dale Street Scouting and Girl Guiding groups get together to put on a Gang Show-style concert in our Hall. 

185 young people filled the stage, each section of scouting and guiding doing their best to entertain the audience – and they did it so well – all in their own way, smiling, singing, acting and dancing.

The squad (29 children aged 8 – 24) dazzled with their amazing dancing and singing starting the show off with an upbeat “rocky” number, doing their own take on Abba, and capturing the magic of Morecambe and Wise.

The Brownies sang beautifully and brought a tear to the eye, the Cubs made us groan out load with their jokes as elves in a cracker factory. The Beavers and Rainbows dazzled the audience with their fantastic self-made monster costumes.

The Scouts amazed us all with their dancing in Strictly Scout Dancing, and the Guides entertained us with their alternative Peter Pan. For many of us the Explorers had the funniest one liner in the show with their Star Wars Darth Vader sketch.

We are very lucky at Dale Street to have so much talent, enthusiasm and initiative amongst the children, leaders, assistants and parents. It is only through everyone working together as a team that we are able to put on such a good show. We are extremely grateful to the people who “volunteer” each time – who perhaps aren’t even connected to Dale Street or scouting, but offer their time and expertise to make the show as professional as we possibly can – stretching and challenging ourselves each year.

Please could we thank the Church and its members who tolerate our taking over of the building during the build up to Daley Sketches, and for supporting and helping us to give this wonderful opportunity to all our children and families.

See you all in 2013 !!!!!                          The Daley Sketches Team

February 2011

We held our first Play and Praise event: This is principally provided for Families and children 8 or under.  It starts in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, there is a time for activities, craft, and play, a short praise time to emphasise the theme, then everyone eats together: we provide a hot meal so that all can go home at 5.00 having had their tea!

We hold Play and Praise every 8 weeks or so, see the ‘What’s on’ page for details. 

January 2011

The New Year saw the installation of our new video projection system.  We now have two permanent retractable screens and projectors in Church.  We have also installed electric blinds for some of the windows to stop bright sunlight washing out the projection.  We can now project pictures and videos more easily and without having to lose any floor space in Church.  We have decided not to use it every Sunday, but it is there for anyone leading worship, or holding a meeting in the Church, to use.

This has all been made possible through the generosity of 2 members who wanted the Church to have the benefit of their legacy now, and in their lifetime, so that they could also share in the benefit we are all receiving.

Christmas Events 2010

The 53^rd annual Christmas event, fundraising for Action for Children was held on Tuesday December 14^th. This included items from Leek Wootton and Ashow handbell ringers, The Oakley School of Dance and 11^th Leamington Guides. The chair of the Birmingham Methodist District Rev Bill Anderson, a trustee of AFC, spoke of its work and the evening raised over £1200.

Our Christingle service on Sunday 12^th December was led by one of our local preachers, Mr Graham Howe. This was held in the church in café style and the story of the elements of the Christingle was told.  Many children were present and were able to take their Christingle home, after their festive tea. 

Christmas morning worship was led by our own minister, Rev Andy Laird.

During the service the children brought a present they had been given and the congregation were able to see even the smallest gift on the large screen thanks to technology!

The Christmas Day lunch which has been held for many years, was once again able to cater for those who would otherwise spend the day on their own. Many of those attending were brought to the church service before the lunch, and warmly welcomed.

Shoeboxes 2010

This shows 113 shoeboxes which were brought to Morning Worship on Sunday November 14^th. These were collected as Dale Street’s contribution to Operation Christmas Child.

The boxes were taken for distribution to children in Romania.

Eco Community Day

On Saturday October 16^th we had another of our community days. This one had an eco theme and was organised by our ‘Green Champion’ Eleanor Perkins and her team.

Throughout the day there were interesting talks on green issues such as solar panels and food choices

A prayer room provided a time of quiet and reflection.

Throughout the day coffee and cakes were served.

At lunch time delicious home made soup was available.

There was something for everyone, regardless of age or ability. It was a time for sharing and caring.

Community Day - April 17^th

Once again, Dale Street opened its doors to neighbours and others from further afield.
Displays were set up in the church and the community room.
These included information about groups within the church and other activities supported by Dale Street members.

There was an impressive set of portraits by members of Mary Bick’s art group who use one of our rooms.
For the younger ones, a bouncy castle was installed at the front of the building.

Visitors were able to enjoy drinks and a wonderful selection of home baking.

The Explorer Scouts were hard at work providing free car washes.

A lot of people worked hard to set up and run this event and we had marvellous weather
- although this might have worked against us by encouraging people to go away for the day.

Thanks to all those who supported our Community Day.

Easter 2010

Our Easter Cross was made by members of our Young People’s Art Group. 

On Easter Sunday, a cross of daffodils was raised in the church.
This was transferred outside the building after the morning service.

Christmas 2009

Harvest Community Day 2009

As part of our Harvest Festival, Dale Street opened its doors and invited local residents and some from further afield to enjoy themselves on our premises.

We were pleased to welcome Rev Graham Jones to lead our Parade Service in the morning - one of those occasions when we had to open the sliding doors at the back of the church. Goody bags containing lots of facts and entertainments connected with food and farming were given to younger people. If you wanted to know the length of the longest carrot, you should have been there.

Harvest gifts were for the Leamington Christian Mission (Steph and Geoff).

While some of us were enjoying our coffee afterwards, others were rapidly setting up the building for the afternoon. The car park was given over to the barbeque and skittles and a bouncy castle and an alarming dragon appeared at the front of the building. Inside, there was table tennis in the lounge and lots of creative activities and games in the hall.

Quite a few people stayed on from the morning service and they were soon joined by other visitors who took part in the wide range of activities which had been planned.

Guests were able to join Mamagospel to practise some songs and these and various artistic products were brought to the Café-style service at the end of the afternoon.

The congregation (customers?) at this service were invited to consider what can grow from small seeds. Those who were heavily involved in the planning and running of the Community Day would probably think they had contributed some fairly large seeds - how much more might grow from those?

Our first Alpha Course

This started successfully in September with two groups. The course is now full, but a second course will start in January 2010.

Daley Sketches 2009

Every two years in April, not content with having been involved in WAGS, Dale Street’s own scouts and guides (of all ages) put on their own ‘gang show, called Daley Sketches. 

This was the year!  So April was crammed with rehearsals and costume fittings with 5 shows in the last week of the month.  Another blistering success!

Easter 2009

Our Easter season began with a performance of ‘One Friday’ a very challenging and thought-provoking play for Passiontide performed by some of our own members.  Then on every day of Holy Week our Minister led a short reflective service at lunchtime, each one followed by a light lunch and conversation.  Our Good Friday service involved the congregation placing red ribbon bows, each one representing a sin or something they wished wasn’t in their lives, on the cross. 

Worship Band

In March our new worship band made its first appearance and their contribution was very much appreciated.  Further contributions are planned!  Many of our uniformed leaders and members were also involved in rehearsing for (at Dale Street) and appearing in (at the Spa Centre) ‘WAGS’ the Warwickshire Scouts and Guides annual Gang Show. http://www.warwickshirescouts.org.uk/showpage.php?sPage=WAGS   Our Minister then presided (loosely!) over an after-show thanksgiving service at Dale Street.  Oggy oggy oggy!!

January 2009

January saw a good number present for our annual covenant service, and then on succeeding Sundays our own Local preachers continued, with the Minister, a series of themed services.  ‘Themed Preaching’ as it has come to be known was very well received and the next series is eagerly anticipated.

2008 at Dale Street

In December we hosted the annual CORD (www.cord.org.uk/) Christmas Carol Concert, which was introduced by CORD’s new ambassador Sarah Falkland (BBC Midlands Today presenter).  It was a wonderful service and the Church was packed.  Our own Carol service saw the first performance of our new choir (well done Peter Mills); we eagerly look forward to their next outing.  Then on Christmas Day, another packed Church saw lots of our families gathered and bringing presents to show off.  Using our projection equipment everyone could see all the toys and games that were brought for the Minister’s inspection!

In November we hosted the Homewood (MHA) Christmas Fair at Dale Street.  There were plenty of stalls to start buying those Christmas extras and the Mayor of Leamington and the Leader of the Council joined us.  Soup and jacket potatoes also sold well and this was a good start to our Christmas festivities. 

In October we marked One World Week with a special Sunday Morning service focusing on Fair Trade and Global Warming.  We also launched our Christmas Shoebox appeal; boxes this year will go to Kiev.

We badged September as ‘fellowship month’, hoping that the events we organised would encourage those who came to chat with people they didn’t usually talk to.  We started with a ‘Back to Church’ Sunday, and over the following weekends we had a games and pizza evening, our harvest ‘bring and share’ lunch and a ‘virtual’ flight to Burundi, courtesy of CORD (www.cord.org.uk) .  Excellent events, enjoyed by all those who attended.

In June, Dale Street members supported the Homewood (MHA) Garden Party, held in Homewood’s wonderful garden.  We wrestled with gazebos in the morning and needed them to act as sun shades rather than as shelters as the sun shone beautifully after lunch and people flocked in.

Trinity Sunday

We were pleased to welcome Rev Trevor Beardsall, a much-loved former minister of this Church, to lead our service and enjoyed a faith lunch afterwards.  It was good to renew old acquaintances and remember Trevor’s time amongst us.

Pentecost Sunday

On this very significant Sunday in the life of the Church, when we recall the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples and the coming to Christ of so many people who witnessed it, it was a delight to welcome 9 new members and baptise 2 others in our morning service.

May Day Bank Holiday

We opened our premises to the community on this day, as part of a town-wide Hope 08 initiative, from 10.00am to 4.00pm.  In the preceding weeks we hand delivered around 2,000 personal invitations to the houses around the Church and users of our building.  We had outdoor games, a bouncy castle, face painting, art and crafts workshop in the hall, a prayer labyrinth in the Church, a barbecue with live music on the car park and a never-ending supply of tea, squash and cakes.  And it was all free, our gift to the local community!  We served 330 hot dogs and burgers but lost count of the number of cups of tea!  It was a fantastic day, we welcomed many new faces and as the weather was gorgeous local people flocked to the church as the day warmed up.  It was a brilliant and fantastic day!

Easter 2008

Dale Street members took part in a the Hope 08 Leamington ‘Easter Wave’, on Easter Saturday.  The Churches Together family decided we would not have a silent walk of witness on Good Friday this year, but a celebratory march of triumph on Easter Saturday.  All the churches were represented in an enormous ‘crocodile’ of people who wlaked down The Parade on a busy Easter Saturday morning, behind the salvation Army Band.  As we walked, banners were waved and 2,000 Hope Leamington helium balloons were given away, along with thousands of sweets and chocolates, each bearing a message of hope and love at Easter.  This was followed by an open air service on the Pump Room gardens.  It was snowing when we started and it finished in glorious sunshine!

20th January 2008

Churches Together in Leamington celebrated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and launched this year of ‘Hope 08’ with a united service here at Dale Street.  The church was packed!!! Phil Overton and friends formed a worship band for the evening and ‘we enjoyed a truly inspiring service, experiencing a true sense of oneness as we worshipped’, as one worshipper explained.  Hope 08 got off to a great and rousing start!

Church Weekend

The Hothorpe Hall Weekend in January 2008 was an enjoyable time for the 25 who attended and threw up ways of developing Dale Street's life generating a range of ideas which could be tried under the banner of ‘Service’ and HOPE ’08.

Focus for 2008/09

Following declaration of the Methodist Church's 'Our Calling Priorities' and, having had a fruitful period focussing on 'Learning & Caring', 'Evangelism' and 'Worship', ‘Service’ was chosen to be our focus for 2008/9. The timing seems right as it coincides with the local and national HOPE ‘08 initiative.

Christmas 2007

The Christingle Service was a new addition to the calendar. The church was turned into a café and, while christingles were made, snacks and drinks were served. This was concluded with an act of worship. It was attended by large numbers of all ages and many family groups.

As has happened for several years, the Christmas day lunch entertained about 25 folk who would otherwise be spending the time on their own.

Carol Service 2007

An evening of traditional readings, poems, carols and unaccompanied songs by a choir formed for the occasion.

Tropical Christmas Party 2007

This event for the younger generation in the district featured music by a band from Nexus, the Christian music college in Coventry.

Welcome to Christmas 2007

This is one of our major fund-raising events for NCH. The main participants this year were choirs and soloists from a local school - Arnold Lodge. Their music was punctuated by seasonal readings.

Advent 2007

Members of the church prepared and performed a meditative evening of drama and readings, centred around a banquet table.

Homewood Autumn Fayre

Once again, Dale Street was the venue for the Friends of Homewood Autumn Fayre which again proved a success permitting space for more stalls, a popular lunch menu, and making a safer environment for the residents. The Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa and the Chair of Warwick District Council attended.

Harvest Weekend 2007

The displays in the church and the community room were designed to launch our current focus for 2008/9 - ‘Service’. There was impressive evidence of the many ways our members are involved in the wider community. Morning worship on the Sunday was followed by a bring-and-share lunch.

Ministerial changes

We were sorry to lose Rev Ian Yates who has retired after 40 years as a minister. Christine has also retired and we wish them both a happy - hopefully more relaxed - time in future.

In Ian’s place we welcome Rev Andy Laird. We first knew Andy as a member at Northgate. Since his ordination, he has been at Kenilworth and we have always been pleased to see him at Dale Street.

Daley Sketches 2007

Every two years, the Dale Street Scouts and Guides treat us to their version of a gang show. It’s amazing to experience the talent, enthusiasm and energy of the cast and one must appreciate the way in which people learn from and improve the techniques they picked up in earlier shows.

Easter 2007

The Drama Group performed ‘Out of this World’, a challenging production drawing parallels between the Passion of Jesus Christ and the persecution of many people who resist oppression in today’s world.

Worship Lunch

There have been two of these events in October 2006 and February 2007, replacing our usual Sunday morning service. Food was shared and courses were interspersed with worship.