“Drop-in” at Christ Church
About 12 years ago when Christ
Church was celebrating its 30th anniversary members of the church
were enjoying light refreshments in the Church Room and talking about things
in general. During the discussions one
person
in the group let it be known that they had recently suffered bereavement and
it was apparent from her demeanour that she needed to talk about her grief.
This she did and received words of comfort and support from those who heard
her story. On leaving the lady offered her thanks and said she had found it
comforting to talk about her feelings.
This incident gave Joyce Fitch, a member of the church, the idea that it would be good to have a place where people could meet to share their problems which she discussed with people and eventually sought permission from the vicar, Gavin Wakefield, who agreed that the venue could be Christ Church. It was decided that Tuesday morning would be a suitable time to have a coffee morning so with the help of her husband Tom and Angela Gambling the “Drop In” came to life. At first it was held in the small Church Room but its growing popularity caused it to be moved to the Atrium where every Tuesday morning from 10am to 12 noon about 25 people meet, men as well as women, discuss many subjects and share each others problems and joys.
On his retirement Peter, Angela’s
husband, joined the group helping to serve coffee, his cry of “More”, an
abbreviated
way of inviting people to have more coffee, has become a regular feature of
the Tuesday morning meeting imitated often but equalled never.
The founders of the Drop In are pictured left, Angela on the right and Joyce on the left.
New faces are always welcome.