Newsletter 1 of St. George’s URC Hartlepool OctOct–––– Nov 2012 Dear Friends, During my childhood there was a calendar hanging in our dining-room which was a picture of ‘the Boston Stump’. I always wondered where and what it was, but did not find out until last weekend. Well, they say that it is never too late to learn something! The Church of St. Botolph, Boston in Lincolnshire, affectionately known as ‘the Stump’ perhaps because it has the appearance of a tall tree with its branches lopped for felling, is the largest building in England that has always been a parish church. It is actually bigger than some cathedrals I have seen, standing about 250 feet high and 340 feet long. The building of the present church is believed to have begun in 1309, replacing an earlier Norman church, but the earliest church was founded in the seventh century by an Anglo- Saxon missionary monk called Botolph. The town was originally called Botolph’s Stone, which got shortened to Boston. When the church was first planned, Boston possessed a port that did more business than anywhere in England except London, and wool was the main export. Boston stands on ‘the Grand Sluice’, where fenland drains converge into The Haven, a tidal river that empties into the Wash. Mer- chants from all over Europe went to Boston in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for the Great Fair which began on St. Botolph’s Day, 17 June, when they bought wool and cloth and sold their wines and furs. Sadly, by the time that the building was finished, the great days of Boston’s commercial prosperity had passed, but then Boston be- came a religious centre. Many pilgrims went to visit the Holy Rood (the Cross) in the Lady Chapel. It made me think that perhaps Hartlepool might also reinvent itself from being a commercial port and industrial centre, not to become a leisure facility but a place of pil- grimage, somewhere that feels very close to heaven and dear to God’s heart. Wishing you every blessing, Val 2 Dates for your Diaries October Sat 6 th 2-4pm Celebrate young people at St Hilda’s Church Mon 8 th 10am Elders Meeting at 17 Granville Ave Wed 10 th 8am Town-wide Churches Together Prayer meeting at College of FE Wed 10 th 2pm Town-wide Churches Together AGM a Owton Manor Baptist Church Thurs 11 th 6.15pm CWM/Pilots evening with Meg Robb Sat 20 th 10am onwards – Synod and celebration of 40 th anniversary of URC Sun 21 st 6.30pm One World Week Service in St Hilda’s. Speaker David Golding Wed 24 th 8am Town Centre Churches Together Prayer meeting at 15Michell St Wed 31st 7.30pm Mission Partnership meeting at Waddington Street Durham November Tues 6 th 1.30pm Town Centre Churches Together meeting at Church of Nazarene Thurs 8 th Pilots Action Aid Evening Wed 14 th 8am Town-wide Churches Together Prayer Meeting at College of FE Sat 17 th 9.30am Annual Bazaar St George’s 1-3pm Annual Bazaar at St Hilda’s Sat 24 th 10am -2pm Hartlepool Peace and Justice Group Fair-trade Coffee Morning at St George’s 2pm -4pm Celebrate Young People at St Hilda’s. Wed 28 th 8am Town centre Church Together Prayer Meeting at Grange Road NB for the men- Christian Vision for Men - Raby Arms Hart Village at 7.30pm. Thursday 15 October - Steve Layfield on the Solar System and Thursday 19 November - Lawrence Leigh Coffee Rota OCTOBER - 7th - Gillian Cartman, Val Rigg, Rose Hastings. 14th - May Ord, Margaret Welford, Jackie Burnett. 21st - Sheila Deacon, Valerie Waite, Joan Metcalfe. 28th - Gail, Tarryn and Ashley Hoad. NOVEMBER - 4th - Kevin and Maxine Hoad, Rose Hastings. 11th - Service at Grange Road. 18th - Wyn Parkinson, Janet White, Val Rigg. 25th - Chris and Cathy Eddowes, Gillian Cartman. DECEMBER - 2nd - Andrew and Margaret Fraser, Moyra Mudd. 9th - Frank and Aileen Whittaker, Margaret Rodgers. 16th - Paul, Gillian and Emily Rodgers. 23rd - Enid and Alistair Bushnell, Brian Carter. 30th - Graham, Gillian Burgon and Family. Please make sure you are at Church early enough to set out the tea and coffee things and get everything ready before service starts. Please use Fair Trade goods. Tea, Coffee and sugar are provided. Bring milk(2 litres) and biscuits. If you cannot do your turn please swap with someone else on the list. There is no need to leave your seat before the end of the service to make tea and coffee, there is plenty of time for everyone to get to the hall area and the boiler is ready to use. 3 Shoebox Appeal The Ministers Sabbatical Nationally Samaritans Purse are Our minister Val is on Sabbatical until trying to reach their millionth child with mid December. During this time, if you a shoebox this Christmas. We are trying would usually contact Val, please con- to send 100 this year. Any suitable arti- tact Margaret in the first instance. cles please place in the box under the Thank you. table by the entrance to church. If in doubt there are leaflets on the table. Pilots ActionAid Night Come and help the Pilots cover the boxes on 18th Oct. and fill the boxes on On Thursday November 8th from 25th Oct. It costs £2.50 to send a box. 6.15 -7.30pm, we are going to have a Please could you help us? .Donations to fund raising evening for ActionAid. Aileen Whittaker. Money raised will go to support children Many thanks.. around the world to help give them a childhood instead of working in factories Meg in Mozambique and living on the streets. Loads of fun The WCM com- games, 9 pin bowling, roll a 1p, pick a mittee invite you to nail etc. Please come along and bring come on Thursday, your friends. 11th October at Last year we raised just over £100, 6.30pm to hear (and let’s see if we can beat see) about Margaret that total this year. Robb’s stay in Mozam- Parents, friends, church bique members all welcome. All the games cost 10p Missionary boxes to play, so come Missionary boxes and envelopes along and have lots of will be received on Sunday, 25th No- fun. vember and their contents dedicated to the work in Myanmar (Burma) The Pilots Team Table Top Sale A table top sale and coffee morning From the Church Office: will be held on Saturday 1st December. The church has obtained a 'newer' pho- The profits will help towards St. tocopier which is 'operated' differently George’s Maintenance of the Ministry as- from the previous one. sessment. Please make something for the cake stall and support us if you can. If anyone would like some training, If you would like a table top, please please see Paul Humberston. see Betty Woodhall. Also we do not need to record the print Project Africa usage for photocopying material for St George's or its organisations. The total for our “Craft Shack” and “Turn on the Tap” appeal now stands at £247- However, any personal 43p. usage still needs to be Thank you to everyone who is support- recorded in the normal ing our appeal, please keep saving your way. pennies etc. If you have any con- Wyn Parkinson cerns, please speak to Paul. 4 4 Pilots Voyagers and Navigators Conference 2012 The theme for this year’s V & N was Super Heroes. We were split into 4 Watches: Heroes, Incredibles, Fantastics and Supers. I was in the Supers. We participated in lots of activities based on the theme such as; designing a super hero based on the skills of the Watch, creating a gadget for a Superhero to use for good. Our group created a healing glove which used faith to heal people’s wounds. Next we had 5 activities that we rotated around; dancing, singing, cooking, finger painting and team building. The following day we were told the story of Peter walking on the water, and then we had to express the story in different mediums. I choose drama. We performed a sketch based on the TV show Take Me Out. We were also given the task of creating a water- proof den, outside in the grounds of the house, which all of the Watch could fit under, us- ing all the materials that had been given to us. We all had a great time and I am already looking forward to next year. Emily Rodgers Day 1 Set off at 5.25 am – had a long train journey. Dinner was lasagne and apple pie and custard. We played getting to know you bingo. Got into our Watches, I was in the Fantastics, and we created Super Heroes. Mine was called Shape Women. We had jacket potato for tea. We went 10 pin bowling and then went to bed. Day 2 After breakfast we did 5 workshops; finger painting (which was my favourite), sing- ing, cooking, dancing and building. We were asked to create a super hero gadget. Out Watch created a Shield called Raginald to give it an identity. For dinner we had crispy chicken and chips and angel delight or jelly. We had a campfire after our pizza and garlic bread tea. Day 3 After breakfast we had 5 workshops to choose from. I chose the glass making. We had to base our painting on a story about Peter/Simon that we had been told earlier in the day. We had fish and chips for our dinner. After dinner we played a Wide Game which involved collecting 100 pieces of coloured string, our Watch’s colour was pink – we won! We had scones and a cup of tea, make a den and then had a BBQ for our tea.