It made for the most joyous starts to Advent: 500 Christmas Decorations, loving knitted by our Knit & Natter Group over the past year were scattered around our Parish. A set of 5 was to be found (Baby Jesus, Angel, Mary, Joseph and a King), each one popped into a bag (in October, when we started to bag them up, we were worried about any potential rain!) with a small card explaining where it was from. We did this last year, scattering 250 figures, and it got such a good response that this year our Knit & Natter group were determined to do more! So in the early hours of December 1st, teams were dispatched to distribute the figures, popping them onto walls gates, bushes and even on our Alty Advent Trail figures in John Leigh Park! We posted what was happening on some of the local Facebook Community Group and it was lovely to see so many comments about the joy and excitement that they had brought. There is one more set ready to be handed out in the Town Sunday on Sunday 2nd, so do head there if you haven’t already found one! Our Knit & Natter group are already planning 2024 – if you’d like to be part of this friendly group (either knitting, learning to knit or just nattering away!) come and join us in the Vicarage on Thursdays at 2pm.
Over the past couple of years, thanks to the inspired work of Altrincham Baptist Church (ABC), John Leigh Park has been given some extra additions over the festive period. This year, ABC asked us if we would like to take it over, and we jumped at the chance! Ashley, their pastor, and Robert, our Church Warden spent a few car trips bringing them back to St George’s, and then the annual spruce up began! New paint was added, a quiz was added to the posters, and any bits that had come loose were fixed and mended. Many was the day that Robert could be found in the garage doing this and that – some people started to question whether he’d actually moved house! But then the day arrived for them to be transported and installed once again in the park. We were so grateful to volunteers from John Leigh Park who came to help us get them in place – indeed, even a few people passing by stopped to give of their time to help us – it really did remind us of the goodness and generosity of people! The winter light was absolutely stunning, and by mid-afternoon they were all in place and ready to go. So do come along and explore them – we really hope that you are as blessed by them as we’ve been getting them ready and put up.
In between Harvest and Advent we have a number of services all around the act of Remembrance: whether that’s remembering personally those that we have loved and lost over the years, or nationally, as we collectively remember those whose lives were lost in wars in the past, but also those whose lives are affected by wars of the present.We started this season with our Wave of Light, Baby Loss Service. It was the first time that we had done this service, and it won’t be our last. It was a service marked by simplicity, as we gathered to mark the loss of too many lives lost too soon.This was then followed by our Memorial Service; An opportunity to remember those whom we have loved and lost over the years. We read out names and lit a candle in memory of people whom regardless of how long ago they died, still leave a indentation in our lives.Finally, we came to our Remembrance Sunday Service today. Here we took our gaze beyond those whom we know, to remember lives given in wars both in the past, and also around the world today. It was wonderful to be join by Edward Moorhouse who played the Last Post and Reveille with poignancy and skill, and equally wonderful to be joined by our uniformed groups as well – they did themselves very, very proud! Our Junior Church went and explored the theme of Remembrance with activities led by Dee and Nick – it’s always wonderful to see how thoughtful our young people are, as well as how creative!All this was brought to an end with sausage and bacon sandwiches – just what we needed as the heaven opened and the rain began again!
It’s a strange time of the year – in September it’s a new start and everyone is gearing up for the new academic year, but in the background, Christmas conversation are already well underway,Over these past couple of week, our plans are firming up (we’ve even put up our Christmas Event page on here!), practicalities are being sorted, Christmas Tree ordered, and things are beginning (thankfully!) to fall into place.But one thing that means that Christmas really is ready to go is when you see all our wonderful volunteers from Knit & Natter & Mother’s Union starting to bag up the 500 handknitted Christmas Decorations ready to get scattered all over all the Parish. They look just stunning! They are so well done, and each comes in a little bag to keep them dry, with a wee card telling you where they are from!We’re aiming to scatter them around the Parish in late November, so watch this space!Meanwhile, here are some of the wonderful ladies who have spent literally most of this year knitting them!
