To celebrate the inauguration of our new group, Friends of St Gabriel’s, Heaton, those involved with its planning have planted 300 tete-a-tete miniature daffodil bulbs in the church garden. When coming down the main path to the front door of church, they are in the border to the left. We are most grateful to Ian Legge and John Pickering who came to help us dig holes in very dry, stony soil full of tree roots and brambles. We hope to see a mass of yellow blooms next and every spring, as well as looking forward to enjoying lots of tete-a-tete conversations with new and established Friends at events and activities.
January 2022Thanks to the generous support of our congregation and Friends, and as all production costs were met by donation, sales of Christmas cards and pens raised £600 for church funds.January began with us circulating everyone living in the Parish with a postcard inviting them to St Gabriel’s services and activities, with times and contact details. With this, we distributed a mini invitation leaflet with information about Friends. Enthusiasm to help with deliveries from the congregation and Friends was immediately forthcoming and greatly appreciated, so within a month, we had visited the letterboxes of all 6,755 homes on 138 streets, except for those declining to receive unaddressed mail. We are pleased to have reached out to so many living in our parish as one of our priorities is to ensure everyone feels included and welcomed.
At the age of 85 Rev'd Sheila decided to take on a sponsored challenge to travel from Newcastle to Chichester Sussex, using only local bus services with her Senior bus pass. She writes;"I have been with the Mothers’ Union since 2009 and currently work as a branch leader here in Newcastle and I am very passionate about this specific area of their charity. All money raised will go to Newcastle AFIA -Away From It All Charity. Donations will enable Mothers Union to offer breaks and holidays to those who are struggling - Families can spend time together away from their stressful situations at home."See the LINK extra article taken from the July 2023 edition for full details.
