We have a lot of groups that happen in the week, from young babes and toddlers, up to those a little older in years! We have Toddler Groups, Music and Movement Groups, alongside community groups of Knit & Natter, or Coffee mornings or Soup lunches.So we were at the John Leigh Big Lunch, and also at Altrincham Festival with a lot of games and activities to keep the children occupied – and some adults too! There was a hook a duck, giant Connect 4 and Noughts & Crosses, a chalk scribble boards and some crafts in there as well.Fortunately, the weather held up and we mainly stayed dry! It was lovely meeting so many people, and if you do want to get involved, check out the pages on this website and come along!
We started off setting up inside the Parish Centre as we spotted a few heavy looking clouds. But then, we gathered some courage (!) and moved everything outside – there was a brief shower at the beginning which made us doubt ourselves again, but then the sun took over, and we basked in it’s rays for the rest of the afternoon!And what a great afternoon it was! Lots of relaxing, laughing and eating, alongside lots of games for the children – from traditional games such as Hook A Duck, sack races and egg and spoon races, to raffles and the now obligatory games of pound coins and a bottle of champagne (it’s hard to explain – come along next time to see it!).The food, overseen by the wonderful Janet, was fabulous, and many thanks to everyone who took the time to set up, set down, cook and just be there – we loved it so much it was hard to get people to leave at the end!
We were delighted that all bar one could make it, and even more thrilled that the church was full with people keen to ask questions of the people who were wanting to represent us in the next parliament. We were particularly delighted to see some younger faces, with one Year 8 student finding his question being the one chosen to be asked!As people came in, we asked them to submit their questions. We then had a small team on hand ready to categorise them and send a ‘summing up’ question to the front for our panel to answer.As each candidate answered, we had three young people timing them, putting up cards to let each person know how much longer they had left.The debate had a really positive tone, and we were grateful for all who took the time to be there.
Thanks to the artistic gifting of the wonderful Jane Parker, we did we also enjoyed a stunning canopy of paper doves installed over the Altar that seemed to shift as you walked around the church!Then we baptised seven people! Most chose to be baptised via sprinkling (or, to use it’s proper name, affusion (pouring) or aspersion (sprinkling)!) but two decided that they wanted to be baptised via full immersion!Full immersion of course goes right back to Christ being baptised in the River Jordan. Whichever version of baptism you prefer, the symbolism of water cleansing us from sin, and those being baptised ‘dying’ and ‘rising again to new life’ is a powerful one, and most churches will offer both options.If this is something you’d like to explore, do get in touch!
