Our Easter Day service was led by Bill and Sara Goodman and was a lovely celebration of the Risen Christ. Our Service was then followed by an Easter Egg Hunt for our younger members, which was enjoyed by all those who took part. Thank you to Chloe Marples who organised this.It was lovely to see so many people in Church. Sara told the Parable of the Prodigal Son, getting 3 of our younger members to play the part of the father and 2 sons. We also took the opportunity to Dedicate the Restoration of The Bowlby and The Dixon stained glass windows.Bill & Sara brought a Simnel cake for people to have with their tea/ coffee, to say thank you for the support given to them by the Bradfield congregation. Various other cakes had been made, with donations going towards the kitchen and toilet project.
Rev John Barrett led a very special Palm Sunday Service, which was very well attended on a lovely sunny morning. So many people were full of praise for this well thought out Service, and our thanks go out to Rev John for his hard work.As part of the Service, the “Easter Story” was read by Sandra Barrand, Linda Denton and Naomi Marples, which gave so much more meaning to this special day in the church calendar.At the start of the Service palm crosses were blessed and the congregation then collected one from the front of Church.This was another of our services where we are trying to do something different to appeal to people of all ages and encourage the community to come and worship at Bradfield Church.
The day started with a short Memorial Service near the clob stone at Dale Dyke Reservoir. It was led by Rev Dan Brown, with some very appropriate prayers and a few verses of Abide with Me. About 15 people attended.The Photography Exhibition then opened in church at 12pm, with the lovely ladies from Bradfield Mothers Union providing tea, coffee and cake. Martyn Pearson gave a talk about his photos and his road to preparing the exhibition which was attended by around 50 people. The display is on until the May Day Bank Holiday.Bradfield Secondary school year 7 & 8 pupils had prepared some work to put on display, as well as a couple of quizzes which kept people entertained whilst they drank their tea and coffee.Bradfield Dungworth Primary School children will have work on display over Easter.Our bell-ringers rang for a short time during the afternoon.The whole day was very successful, with people still coming in just before we closed at 4pm. Although it was not intended as a fundraiser, the ladies raised £260 from their refreshments and the donations will go towards our new servery and disabled toilet.
Our 2 Focal Ministry leaders, Naomi and John Marples, led our Mothering Sunday Service. Our Mothers Union members also did some readings as part of the Service. It was a lovely Service, written with Mothers and Families at the heart of it. It was extremely uplifting and thoughtful. We all wondered why Naomi had left a very unhealthy plant and a watering can at the front of Church, but all became clear during the interactive Sermon. The children present were asked to shout out ways they could help the plant come back to life, and uncannily their suggestions mirrored how children are nurtured by their Mothers.During the Service, flowers were handed out to the ladies present by the children and Mothers Union members.A big thank you to everyone who helped make this Service such a special event.
