All the Latest News

We no longer have a minister and so until we have a new one the church will be under the guidance of what we call an 'interim moderator'.

Grants for a new building.   The church has recently heard the news that two grants have been awarded to help in the construction of a new building. This will replace a very old and very unsafe building that is falling down. The new building will be wooden and half will be for storage of equipment and the other half for use by the young people (and others if required). As you can see from the 'Children' link, we do a lot of work with young people and this will provide more space for their activities.

The grants have been awarded by two organisations. One is from Wychavon Community Grants for £5,000 and the other from Awards for All which is part of the Big Lottery Fund and is for £10,000. We give sincere thanks to both organisations as without these grants we could not proceed with the project.

Child Friendly Church Award.

The church has just been given this award. It means that the leaders all have their Criminal Record Bureau disclosures and enough have done a First Aid course and Child Protection course. Other safeguards are in place as well. The church has a Pilots group, runs morning activities at Easter and Christmas and a week long activities mornings in August. We also take school assemblies. (see below). 

Christmas Assembly.

As in the previous year, both the First Schools came to the church for their Christmas assembly. Over the weekend of 3 - 5  December we held our Christmas Tree Festival. On the Monday morning at least 140 children squeezed in for a joint assembly, together with teachers and a few parents. We did the Open The Book story for Christmas and some songs. 

Not only did we have the assembly at Christmas, but  both schools returned for an assembly at Easter. 

 School Assemblies

The school assemblies have now been in operation for over four years and we are now into our fifth year at Broadway First School. We have also been going into St. Mary's Catholic School for over two years. Both those leading, and the children, are enjoying them. As far as we know, this is the first time a group has done this. Altogether 6 people have been involved, coming from several different churches but they are under the leadership of the URC. The course being followed is called 'Open the Book', the 'book' being the Bible. The version used is especially written for children and is called 'The Lion Storyteller Bible'. The 'Lion' part is the name of the publisher. The scheme complies with Government regulations for school assemblies and many of the group attended a whole day of training to learn how to do them. 

Collection for Belarus

The church has been involved with the Chernobyl 2000 charity for many years. They collect all types of goods for the people of Belarus who are still suffering from the explosion of the nuclear power station many years ago. The type of items they want are small items such as soap, toothpaste and brushes, painkillers, baby clothes, washing powder, school stationary, art and craft items, sports equipment, wool, hospital equipment, disposable nappies of all sizes, baby bedding, cleaning materials, stationary, pens and pencils, bedding, dress making material, basic medical supplies. All consumables are continually and urgently needed and all non consumables must be in good condition. Any equipment must have instructions for use. 

Any items may be left in the box at the back of the church.

 No medical supplies or food this time please, they can be donated just before the next trip.

 The trip to Belarus around Easter 2102 is likely to be the last as the organisers are retiring and a new person to take on the work cannot be found at the moment.