Events in 2020
2020 was a hard year with occasional openings and closings of the church as Covid waxed and waned. Zoom ruled supreme with the 10 o’clock meetup and sessions with various visitors, and that kept us going.
However difficult 2020 was, we never completely
closed, and the pastoral visitors worked hard to keep track of everyone. The
Newsletter took off in a new form and was mostly but not entirely online.
We experimented with live streaming although our equipment often let us down.
When we couldn’t be open, we provided one or two special services, also online.
When we could be open we obeyed pages and pages of risk assessments, sat well apart and froze in the ventilated cavern which was our church.
We mounted exhibitions in our windows and at Christmas the scouts and guides provided this tree which was put outside the church to provide light and goodwill.
It was the strangest of times.
Nativity service 2020
The original idea had been a party followed by our Christingle service. As the virus changed course, so Michael kept rethinking – what could he do to involve all the families that were connected to us – and do it legally?
So it was that the lower car park was transformed. The crib was set up on the left (you can see the lamb) and what were those painted squares? Answer, socially distanced ’enclosures’ for family bubbles. And best of all, image projection on the wall that nobody had noticed was a super-size screen.
And so it got dark and ten families appeared and Michael reminded them that it was their church and it would always be a safe and friendly place where they would be loved. And he told them that more than once.
Festive Bake - December 2020
And the winner is – Action for Children
In December our volunteer bakers came up with a tempting list of their signature Christmas bakes for our Festive Bake to Order project. Customers were able to select from seasonal favourites including mince pies, chocolate log, fruit cake and truffles. There were cakes, biscuits and swirls full of festive flavours such as cranberry and orange, lemon, ginger and marzipan. After placing an order on the website or by telephone customers made a donation to AfC and awaited delivery on Saturday 12 December.
We had orders from 19 households, which added up to nearly 60 bakes. The bakers were very busy in their kitchens that week! On delivery day the customers were delighted to see volunteers arriving at the doorstep with their goodies and it was most definitely a delicious teatime that day!
Thank you to everyone who supported this venture with their time, skills, ingredients and donations. We raised £342 for Action for Children.
While this was going on, the Action for Children Support group were running an online Raffle.
21 people entered, raising just under £200.
Photo Competition - August 2020
Our Action for Children Support Group ran this online competition during August. Entries were invited from two age ranges in four categories:
- Photos with a caption
- Lockdown
- Nature
- People
We received 192 entries and the judges chose one picture from each category,
an overall winner in the adult categories and an overall winner in the junior categories.
You can see their choices here.
A total of £219.14 was been raised for Action for Children by this event.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the competition.
The judges stressed that the high standard of the entries meant that they had a difficult job to do.
VE Day 75 - May 2020
When our church was closed, some of our younger people collected memories from VE Day and put up a display in the porch.
You can see the pictures and memories here.
... and in earlier years 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012