During Lent, there is a special fundraising campaign on the theme of Counting Your Blessings.

A sheet of facts and ‘blessings’, highlighting how much we all take for granted, is available, numbering from 1-40 – one kind of blessing for each day of Lent. It has a suggested donation for each day (for instance, ’20p if you’ve had a hot meal today’). You can download last years blessings here (we will link to the 2012 version as soon as it’s available – but aside from the date at the top, these will work just as well this year!).

If you decide to take part in this, please complete the sheet, including Gift Aid details if appropriate, and pass the money and sheet to Diane as soon as possible after Easter.

In the meantime, have a read of outgoing Producer Margaret’s short summary of Theatre Club so far – 1992-2012, to be found in the History of Wesley Hall section of the site: 20 years of Theatre Club.

There will be a quiz, games and dancing… non-alcoholic cocktails and a 3-course meal included in the ticket price. And the wonderful Comets Steel Band providing the music.

Date: Saturday 18 February 2012
Time: 7.00pm
Tickets: £8 (adults) £5 (children) available from Chris – all proceeds in aid of Action for Children and church funds.

If there’s something you expect to see, but don’t, or if there’s anything you’d like to find out more about, do post a comment and we’ll get back to you.

“An opportunity for families & friends to be together, sharing the true meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!”
From Chris, the Senior Steward.

“Wishing a happy and peaceful Christmas to everyone”
With love from all the children and adults in Junior Church xx

“Theatre Club would like to wish Wesley Hall members and friends and all our lovely audiences ‘A Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year’ (“Oh no you wouldn’t!”) Oh yes we would!”

“May the joy and peace of Christmas be with you all through the year. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas”
From the 19th London Boys’ Brigade Company

“The Girls’ Brigade Officers & Staff would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

“I would like to wish you all a happy and blessed Christmas. May you know God’s peace at this special time of year, and for the coming year. God Bless”
Pam

The first spring bulbs came up in March/April when we were greeted by a lovely display of daffodils & other spring bulbs. The roses have also done well with all of them flowering at least two or three times each. They will all be cut back before Christmas to enable them to get new growth for next year.

By the time we had our Spring Fair I had removed all of the spring bulbs & put in the summer bulbs as well as some summer bedding plants – which I had brought from the Spring Fair. By the end of summer the gladioli that I got for a pound in Poundland came up & flowered. However I was having to go up the road to get large garden canes to hold them up.

Then in Autumn it was time to get out the summer plants & replant the spring bulbs for next year. These include some snowdrops & tulips as reported last month.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of the people of this wonderful Church; from the people that helped create the  garden, the people that gave donations, plants & roses and the people that helped out domestically with jobs around the garden. So many thanks to all. If you haven’t got involved in the garden yet & would like to, with either money or domestically, please see me at any time.

One of my highlights of the year was when Jenny Impey came to take our Church Anniversary service & gave lots of praise on how wonderful the garden looked. Next year I will be working to improve the forecourt of the church. I have lots of ideas on how to make this look better than does at the moment. I also have some plans to have a 50p stretch to help maintain the garden over the coming years.

I hope all the readers have wonderful Christmas & a prosperous New Year & many thanks for your continued support.

[Steven]

Here we are again preparing for Christmas. It seems to come around with alarming regularity, doesn’t it? I hope that at some point in the next month or so you will have time to slow down and remember what lies at the very heart of Christmas.

This year our theme is light shining in the darkness.

I don’t know about you but as the nights get longer and we are engulfed in darkness (well, semi-darkness in London), the world seems a very different place. Gone are the long days of summer; our lighter clothes are relegated to their winter home and going out without a coat is not a good idea; gone are the Salads, in come the Casseroles. Somehow there seems to be a different pace to life; maybe we’re really supposed to hibernate.

The climate in Britain follows the ebbs and flows of life and we may well prefer the warmer days of summer, and yet each season offers us an opportunity to reflect. These next few months are no exception. December is a time of preparation, of generosity and giving; a time for thinking of others and being together. It can also be a time of stress and loneliness and we mustn’t forget that, for some, it has to be endured rather than enjoyed. However, it gives us all an opportunity to stop and think about what it means to have God with us, shining a light in what can seem a very dark world indeed. Christmas and New Year offer us hope – a time of reflection and celebration for what has been and hope for what is to come.

Some of our newspapers delight in telling us what is good for us and what is bad for us: Blueberries are good, mobile phones are bad. Keeping fit is good, running too much is bad for your knees. You know the sort of thing. New research is expounded at great length, most of it we take with a pinch of salt as it’s too confusing and contradictory. However, one such piece of research caught my attention the other day. It said ‘Singing is good for you’, or, more particularly, singing with other people is good for you, very good for you, and evidently enjoyable. As if we didn’t already know that. I like singing even though I need a congregation to drown me out. I wonder if that is why Christians are (according to more research) in general happier and live longer than the average person who doesn’t have the opportunity to sing and give thanks every week. Singing enables us to express emotions and thoughts that lie beneath the surface. As we harmonise and blend our voices together we are in some strange way lifted out of ourselves into a different space. A good sing can indeed make us feel better, and if we can sing with gusto it is even more effective.

Fortunately we have many opportunities to sing together and to enjoy listening to others singing. We can enjoy Theatre Club’s Christmas entertainment on the 10^th December, we can sing our advent hymns and well known Carols as we prepare for Christmas. There’s the gift service at the beginning of the month, followed by the JMA awards (well done everyone again),  then we have  Carol Service with nativity, the Christmas Eve communion at Wesley Hall this year  followed a few hours later by our Christmas day celebration. Lots of opportunities so let’s all sing our hearts out this Christmas time – not only are we celebrating the birth of our saviour but it’s officially good for us: Alleluia!

Tony and I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

God Bless,

Pam

• Time: 7.00pm
• Tickets: Adults £6, Children £3
• Light refreshments included
• To book, contact Chris

We hope that this Christmas Concert will send you home with a lovely warm feeling of the true spirit of Christmas.

Theatre Club would like to wish everyone
‘A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR’

• Saturday 3 December: Christmas Bazaar, 11am – 3pm
  with Cakes, Toys, Books, Christmas goods, Fairtrade products, Jewellery, Raffle and of course a visit from Father Christmas! Bring the children and stay for a delicious lunch.
• Sunday 4 December: Toy Service, 11am
  Bring tinned goods, new or unused toys, Christmas puddings, jars of jam or marmalade, packets of tea or coffee etc in aid of the Voluntary Care Centre Appeal – your gifts will be used to make hampers for the elderly and children in need in the local community.
• Saturday 10 December: Theatre Club Show, 7.00pm
  Tickets available.
• Sunday 18 December: Carol Service with Nativity, 11am
  Come and sing your favourite carols and enjoy the children’s Nativity Play.
  
• Saturday 24 December: Midnight Communion, 11.30pm
  Join us for a short service as Christmas Day arrives.
  
• Sunday 25 December: Christmas Day Service, 10.30am
  A slightly earlier service. Children are asked to bring a present that they’ve received, to show & tell.
  

Traditionally these have been bought by members of the congregation in memory of a loved one. More recently we have decorated the church with  artificial plants as the real ones do not fare well in the changing temperatures of our building.

In order to remember a loved one this year we are once again asking that you ‘sponsor’ a decoration and make a donation to Action for Children.

Please see Sue Watkins with your donation ASAP.
Thank you.