Church

Pastoral Group	Co-ordinators	Stall
1	Elaine, Lesley	Secondhand Books
2	Helen C, Heather DD	White Elephant
3	Helen J, Dorcas	Christmassy Things
4	Heather Mc, Fiona	Games
5	Helen G, Sandra L	Christian Books
6	Marilyn, Judith	Toys

Please support this event in any way you can and help to raise funds for the church. If you have items for any stall, please contact the relevant co-ordinators. Please would each group supply its own suitable cash float.

The Action for Children Team will be counting the money collected throughout the year during November. Please bring along your lantern/box on any Sunday in November (except 8th) if you are able. If not please let Howard or Elaine know and we can arrange to collect it. Many thanks.

Also, if you have one of the new cardboard boxes, Action for Children have realised the design fault (in that they sometimes collapse when the coins are too heavy!) and are replacing them with stronger ones. We hope to have some of these soon - as we know what avid collectors you all are!
Elaine Fletcher

Our brave cyclists who cycled to a lot Churches in Thatcham and the surrounding area on Saturday 12th September raised £120 in sponsorship money £60 of which will be going to our Church. In the 20 years we have been taking part in CROW we have raised £2168.00 of which £1084.00 has come to our Church. Taking part in CROW also allows us to apply for grants to have emergency work done to our Church if required. We would like to thank all those who supported us this year and over the past 20years.
Thank you all very much.
Sandra Ley & Carol Hoyle.

Harvest

Thanks to the generosity shown over our Harvest Celebration weekend, we collected over £160 for the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF). We enjoyed the fruit of the sea and land at our Harvest Supper and we hope that this gift will go some way towards sharing with others God's grace to us.

At the recent Stewards' Meeting, the following were appointed/confirmed as Lead Steward (or worthy equivalent!) for various areas of church life:

Worship Consultation                 Ewan Harvey
Letter to preachers                    Howard Fletcher
Sunday School                          Howard Fletcher
The BeAt                                  Jeff Britt
Drop In at the Well                     Maureen Jarvis
Pied Piper Pre-School                Maureen Jarvis
Pastoral Meeting                       Ewan Harvey
Circuit Meeting                          Ewan Harvey
Circuit Invitation Committee        Alan Johnson (for stationing Sept 2010)
Quarterly rota                            Maureen Jarvis
Fund-raising                               Maureen Jarvis
Property & Finance Committee   Tony Reeves
Lettings                                     Alan Johnson
Care of front of property            Maureen Jarvis

This traditional division of responsibility among the church leadership enables us to give particular support to each area. Please approach the appropriate contact in the first instance.

Worship Consultation

The Worship Consultation has met twice now, and is getting into its stride. As described previously, it exists to oversee the worshipping life of the church, its enhancement and development in particular. Constructive contributions from the wider church are welcome at any time.

At the previous meeting, there were some important outcomes.

1. Through the church's representatives to Churches Together in Thatcham (CTiT), we contributed to the recent CTiT Vision Day, specifically on the worship aspect. The following points were offered, and we understand that the contribution was well received:
- Denominations should share leadership of events rather than lead individually in turn.
- Remembrance Sunday: Some kind of representation for our church on the town's Remembrance Day service was sought.
- Good Friday: Individual churches should be discouraged from offering individual services. The CTiT service should be reinvigorated and constructed along more varied and imaginative lines.
- Easter Day: A "sunrise" service was suggested, but not somewhere remote. While Greenham Common, for example, would be very appropriate and symbolic, a celebration in the town centre was felt to be even more appropriate.
- Pentecost: This should be celebrated together. (There was general disappointment at this year's absence.) This should not be in the "locked room" of Kennet School , which, however accommodating, is perhaps not the most welcome location for some! CTiT were encouraged to "think bigger". Additional events, perhaps the day before, could offer practical service in the town.

2. Our music group will get more notice from preachers of their requests.

3. All-age worship will be re-introduced on the first Sunday of each month. There are many positive reasons for this. It will help our children and young people to grow into worship, rather than experiencing only the cut-down portion of the Sunday morning service where they join the adult congregation. It will also release Sunday School teachers and supporters to enjoy worship themselves.
To lead all-age worship well is demanding and we have been sensitive to this point. Feeling that they lack the necessary gifts, many preachers prefer to lead only adult worship. Nevertheless, we have planned ahead and leadership should be well supported.
Done well, all-age worship is certainly appropriate. The rest of the time, however, the usual arrangements will allow, for adults, the treatment of adult themes, and for our children and young people, learning and sharing which is appropriate for them.

Music Group

Any musicians or singers who would like to join us especially as we come up to Christmas, so that we can raise our voices...
please let me know!

Christian Aid

STALL ON THE BROADWAY: This raised £192.05 - Many thanks to all who contributed to the stall or bought from the stall.

The BeAt

We are much in need of extra help given two of the younger leaders are now at university, one of the young married leaders has just had a baby and another has moved to Kingsclere.

If anyone would be willing to help for 2 to 3 hours on a Friday evening we would be very grateful as there are problems when anyone of the main leadership has another commitment. It could be on a fortnightly, monthly or occasional basis. If you feel that you could help just have a word with Jeff Britt, Helen Cook or Will Fletcher for more information.

Nativity Service – Sunday 13th December 2009

I realise that Christmas is a long way away however, we are having to start planning now! This year we will be joined in our Nativity Service by the children and young people from PALS. You may remember that last year they performed a Nativity play in our church. This year they are going to be performing the play as part of the Sunday morning service.

If there are any children or young people who would like to join us in preparing and performing it then please contact me as we would love this to be a joint venture. Our rehearsals start on Thursday 12^th November from 5-6.30pm at church. If your child is unable to make all the rehearsals but would still like to be involved then please get in touch as I’m sure there will be a way of including them.

Congratulations

Belated but heartfelt Congratulations to Carol and Ray Hoyle who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on October 25th.

Dear Rev Warren ….

I guess you can be officially classed as old when your doctor writes to you and says that you are now entitled to a pneumonia injection and the Income tax people write to say that you are now entitled to an age related additional personal allowance.

Despite the variable postal system lately, I’ve had both letters now. I’ve had my pneumonia jab in one arm and the flu jab in the other. So I am now all set up for winter.

Yes. it makes a bit of a mess in the wet, but isn’t it a pretty mess? Old leaves hanging on to their colour for dear life.

Around the world today there are many folk ‘hanging on to life’ amidst drought and famine, natural disasters and war.

It is a sad fact that when we were little we longed to be older. We wanted to be able to stay up late like teenagers; to be able to walk down the road on our own. Then, as single folk, we longed to be married. We waited with eager anticipation for our children to come along. Then for years we almost longed for an ’empty nest’ so that what was left of life could be ‘ours’ again.

Then, by the time the doctor and the tax collector write to you, you actually spend more time looking back. Not perhaps wishing you were a teenager able to rock it with the best of them down at the local Palais, but harking back to the ‘good old days’, when churches were full; we had proper sermons; meaningful hymns and when we shared a meal together we didn’t bother about things like ‘fat content’…

Today, the present, is actually God’s gift to us. Make the most of it because none of us know what tomorrow will bring.

December Newsletter

The next newsletter will be a combined December/January edition and will be available on November 29^th. Please pass any items for inclusion to Pete or Sandra Sharpe by November 22^nd or send them via email to sharpeset@tiscali.co.uk.

Newsletter for November 2009

Church / Pied Piper Fayre