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The Church of the
Nativity |
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friendly Anglican/Methodist Partnership |
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Past Events |
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Another busy season commenced with the Advent Service on 27th November when the first Advent candle was lit. Ali Simpson, detached Youth Worker, gave us a memorable report on her work in the Aylestone and Saffron area. More than 100 local young people are now involved in a football project and a Youth Cafe has been established at the Samworth Academy. This is an extremely worthwhile local project by the diocese and the Church should continue to support it. The annual Christmas Fair held on 3rd December was bigger and better than ever and a real success. We welcomed familiar faces and many new ones – perhaps due to the many leaflets delivered around the area by a small band of hardy souls – the leaflet advertised the activities of the church. The church and all the areas looked extremely festive – thanks to the hard work of the ‘gang of three’ and others who organised the window displays. There was a lovely atmosphere in the hall and everyone really enjoyed themselves. We were honoured with a visit from Santa, which delighted young and old. The Methodist Women in Britain Carol Service and lunch was held on 7th December and was a resounding success. The lunch was delightful due chiefly to Muriel’s culinary delights of homemade soup and roll and homemade mincepies. The Christingle Service in support of the Children’s Society took place on December 11th. Thanks to ‘the team’ all worshippers were handed the traditional ‘light of the world’. This year we missed the members of the After School Club – perhaps they will be with us next year. We raised £70.50 for the society. Paul Smith organised a lovely Christmas Music Night which was much enjoyed and raised £35.80 for Church Funds. Our spiritual life continued with the Carol Service on December 18th. The Park Singers took part and their contribution was much appreciated. We were pleased to welcome pupils from Knighton Fields Primary School for their Carol Service and were delighted to see many parents attending the service. The other services held were Midnight Holy Communion on Christmas Eve and the Christmas Day service. It was good to see so many new faces at both services. As well as the above activities we held the Church Christmas Dinner at the Manor, Glen Parva – a lovely meal and Christmas crackers with the usual appalling jokes and paper hats. There was the usual Nativity ‘buzz’ at the event. The congregation also collected the boxes for the annual shoebox appeal, 26 in total. Altogether a very busy time – spiritually and socially, but hopefully in balance. Personally, I find it lovely to be part of such a loving, caring and sharing community. At the same time we should remember that none of this could happen without the committed efforts of individuals who willingly give of their time and energy to keep it all ‘on the road’. The New Year is now with us and will bring new challenges in many ways but, from past experience, I am sure that Nativity will rise to them. The drama group is already rehearsing for its challenge – a revue to be performed in May. We look forward to seeing everyone then!
Carole Sturgess
Organised Playwright and Director Sylvia Taberer wowed us again with another ingenious tale from Thorpe Hall and its dysfunctional aristocrats. In the earlier play, preparations for a wedding ended with the surprise tying of a gay knot by Lord Monty, son of a Lady Dora, and Warren, son of Mrs De-Beaumont. This time we meet the family in the drawing room where Thorpe Hall’s matriarch Lady Evadne Vaughan-Smythe is being made to rest the day after she has stumbled into the Hall’s swimming pool. The demanding role as her ladyship was played by Patricia Graham with real confidence and style. We find her suffering under a delightful pantomime of fussing at the hands of Joan and Jim Hayden as her housemaid and gardener. Her Ladyship’s dip turns out to be only one of the disasters that happened the previous day; a summer house used by Lady Evadne as a painting studio was destroyed by fire and some valuable paintings and a diamond necklace went missing. Rod Hancock was just right as the irrepressible Lord Monty, supported by Paul Smith as Warren. Together the gay couple have taken over the task of making good the Hall’s disastrous finances. They are mounting a food festival as the first of a number of extravagant money-making projects. We see part of the preparation for the festival through the window as Joan and Jim did their best to throttle each other with bunting! The strained relationships in the hall come to light through the skill of Margaret Sercombe as the simpering Lady Helen, Judith Utton as the deaf and very objectionable Lady Venetia, and Carol Sturgess as the toadying Mrs De-Beaumont. Lord Monty keeps us up to date with his attempts to claim as much reward as possible from the inadequate insurance on the summer house and the missing items. The risk of the police asking too many questions is avoided by putting the investigation in the hands of Ronnie Williams as the inebriated Police Inspector and husband of Lady Helen. There were convincing performances from Lauren Taberer as Lord Monty’s sister Felicity who has married a Duke wearing the necklace, and Pamela Burns as Lord Monty’s efficient secretary. We also had Pamela to thank for the up-market tickets for the performance. As well as being Stage Manager, at very short notice Peter Sercombe did well as the butler. The quality stage set was by PaM and Stephanie Eggleston provided the programme. If you want to know how the play ended, see end of report. The whole evening was a delight. After being fortified by the catering team’s excellent ploughman’s supper, apple pie and cream, we were kept amused at every turn and we rewarded the Players with well deserved and hearty applause. It is good to know that a special performance has been filmed for those who were unable to attend. With the proceeds of Pat Ewen’s raffle, the performances on May 19th to 21st the Nativity Players have donated £1000 to church funds and £50 to the Armani Children’s Home in Tanzania. John Moore Like the first Thorpe Hall episode, this play ended in surprise. Lady Evadne, without a trace of remorse, tells Lady Helen how she forged the “valuable” paintings and then burned both them and the summer house before plunging into the pool to remove the smell of burnt paint! It was also she who persuaded Lady Felicity to leave the necklace out of the Hall’s safe so that she could hide it from the Police and the Insurers. We had met a lady who truly was ORGANISED.
A Christian Journey Baptism marks the time when we are officially welcomed into the Church as we begin our Christian journey as a member of God’s family. Jesus, as we know, was himself baptised in the River Jordan by his cousin, John the Baptist, an act which marked the beginning of his Christian journey towards the cross followed by his glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. A journey which we all, as Christians, are undertaking during this period of Lent. It was very appropriate, therefore, that the Family Team at the Church of the Nativity, should chose to organise a baptism exhibition in the church to coincide with their Spring Fair on Saturday 26 March 2011. The response we received to this suggestion was so overwhelming that it resulted in the church being beautifully decorated with an array of baptismal gowns and flowers. The exhibition of christening gowns contained exhibits which covered a period of 100 years to the present day. Overall the day was a great success as it not only provided funds for our church but also proved to be a valuable outreach opportunity into the local community. It was a truly inspiring way of using Nativity to illustrate to all of our visitors the wonderful words contained in John’s Gospel that Jesus used when he sent his disciples out to preach the Christian message:
‘I
am the way, the truth and the life’
Patricia Ewen
In the bleak midwinter…
…frosty wind made
moan, Not so long ago! I was reminded of this Christmas carol all too vividly at the beginning of December 2010, when we experienced sub zero temperatures, snow and ice! Despite this, we were able to, once again, invite the local community to join us for the start of our Christmas celebrations at our annual Christmas fair with displays in the church. This year, instead of an Advent Wreath Festival, which has taken place for the last three years, we decided to do something different. The church was decorated with displays based on Christmas carols – In the Bleak Midwinter, The Holly and the Ivy, We three kings, Away in a manger, O Little Town of Bethlehem were represented. In addition, we were delighted to have a contribution from our after school club; their display in the church foyer was based on the carol Angels from the Realms of Glory. The church was also enhanced with beautiful floral arrangements and the Advent Candle and Angel Hangings made by the Needleworkers. This year we were able to make use of our new IT system and a PowerPoint presentation of Christmas pictures was shown throughout the opening time. The Christmas Fair in the schoolrooms had a good selection of stalls; with a contribution this year from the Needleworkers who had been working hard for a few months on various items for their stall – peg bags, aprons, Christmas decorations, stuffed toys etc. The set used by the Nativity Players for their play, Prawn Cocktail, had been decorated for Christmas and was used for refreshments. A very successful event, raising much needed funds for our Church. Stephanie Eggleston
Prawn Cocktail Another one act play by our talented resident dramatist Sylvia. The evening began with a hot and tasty cottage pie, peas, carrots and gravy followed by apple pie and cream prepared and served by Sylvia and her band of volunteers, who served the meal and cleared the tables in time for the 8pm curtain up. The play takes place in Rene’s dining room the day before her daughter Tracey’s wedding. Trying to get all the last minute preparations done and undone as the wedding is off and on, Rene’s niece Claire is in and out of the kitchen making trifles and cooking chicken legs and as the wedding is off and on the prawns for the prawn cocktail keep getting put in and out of the freezer. Rene’s sister Brenda gives plenty of useless advice, but didn’t help in anyway, the same as her mother Mrs Copley; the only physical thing she did was to pour sherry, large ones for herself. A neighbour, Nora calls in with a wedding present whilst cuddling her ginger cat called Camilla. Nora is dressed in a wrap-around apron and her wedding hat that she was wearing in. Meanwhile, Rene had gone to the Royal Infirmary where her husband had been taken after a fall in the pub. Mrs Copley and Brenda carry on with the sherry bottle until Rene and Tracy return. Then there is an almighty crash and yell from the kitchen, Claire runs in to say that Nora’s cat has eaten the prawns. It was a very entertaining play, due not only to the cast, but good directing from Peter and Rod, and all the back stage workers, especially Stephanie who arranged the programmes and Julie for the tickets. As I was leaving, several people I know but who do not have any connection with the Church said, ‘let us know when the next one is’. I think that says a lot. Yvonne Williams
Joyful Occasion The celebration of marriage is a joyful and loving occasion and it is easy to see why Jesus chose the occasion of the Wedding at Cana as the scene of his first miracle. Over the weekend of 22/23 May 2010 the Church of the Nativity invited the people of Aylestone Park to join them as they hosted a vintage wedding exhibition in the church and a May Fair in the schoolrooms. An invitation which was gladly accepted. The wedding exhibition consisted of wedding and bridesmaid dresses from the 1950s to the present day and photographs of family weddings going back to 1901. We even had a medieval wedding bride and groom outfit, although I hasten to say this had been specially designed for a wedding in the 20th Century! Following research among church members a display was prepared of people’s Top Ten Wedding Hymns and Bible Readings and, like all weddings, special flower arrangements adorned the church and the porch. To round our weekend off all of the church ladies were invited to dress up in their best clothes and hats for the Sunday Morning Service of Worship and in honour of the occasion an additional hymn, ‘Love Divine All Love’s Excelling’, Nativity's favourite wedding hymn, was included in the Service by our Methodist Minister, Revd David Vale. Truly a weekend to remember. Pat Ewen
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Well!! We were treated to yet another enjoyable night watching the drama’s latest play, written by our own dramatist come actress Sylvia Taberer. After a good supper of sausages, beans and mashed potato, followed by fruit pie and cream, washed down with tea or coffee; all the work of Peter and Margaret Sercombe and a team of waitresses and dish washers – probably the same people! Before the meal Carol Sturgess went around selling raffle tickets, and the lucky tickets were drawn before the curtain went up. The play takes place in the bar of a working men’s club as the staff arrive to clean up after a busy time the night before. Not a lot of cleaning was seen to happen, but plenty of mugs of tea topped up with staff measures from a bottle of alcohol.The manager didn’t have any control over the staff and they (Sylvia, Tricia and Judith) made the most of his lack of discipline as did the window cleaner (Rod). A well heeled lady came to collect a purse she had lost the previous evening, but with her blonde wig and sunglasses one needed to look twice before realising it was Margaret; the contents of the purse having opened a can of worms to the club staff.The club treasurer (Ronnie) made a brief shuffle across the stage, not too well liked by the staff; he was called a pompous twit when he said he had come to check the till takings and the one armed bandit. The entertainments secretary (Jim) brought as singer (Julia) to be auditioned to sing the following week. After pleasing the staff she passed the audition.With a story made up by the manager’s sister (Pat) to persuade his wife not to return home to him, everyone is made happy. All that is left to say is when is the next play? I must add my congratulations to the backstage staff and to Peter for his directing. Yvonne Williams Click on each of the photos to enlarge.
The Christmas Queen At the beginning of December
the Church of the Nativity
put on their Christmas
play. The play begins with Dorcas (the Christmas Queen)
telling the villagers where she lives, that the Messiah is about to be born in
Further into their journey Dorcas and Deborah meet a
farmer whose crops have failed and whose family are starving—after a brief
debate, they decide to give him some of the jewels Dorcas bought for Jesus. Deborah helps Dorcas to see that by giving her gifts for Jesus to other people, she has been able to help others. As a result of this Deborah finally gets to exchange her L plates for a set of wings! Liz Beynon, Natalie Sharma and Natasha Woodward Click on each of the photos to enlarge.
Advent Wreath Weekend Advent
is the season before Christmas when we await the arrival of a very
important person, Jesus Christ.
Over the past three years the Nativity has marked the
beginning of this season by throwing open the doors of the church
building and inviting the local community to join us in a double
celebration of our own, I refer of course to the Advent Wreath
Festival in the Church and the Christmas Fair in the Schoolrooms. The
weekend concluded with a very successful Advent Carol Service
organised by Nativity’s Worship Leaders. Click on each of the photos to enlarge.
The Nativity Banner
In 2008 The Nativity Needleworkers were busy on new banners for
Advent. After a rest over Christmas we all met in January and
they asked for a banner "to hide a nail on a wall in the Hall".
I asked for a theme and they came up with lots of suggestions.
We met together to choose one subject to illustrate something
of the life of the church. Sylvia said "We want them all." Quite
a challenge! I bought the materials in March, 2009, expecting such a large project to last for two years - it was completed in seven months thanks to our Needleworkers and a few extra friends. Jacqui Haines Click on each of the photos to enlarge.
Harvest
Celebrations
Our harvest celebrations took place at the beginning of October. £275.30 was raised for the Mablethorpe Children's Home. Produce donated at the Harvest Festival was auctioned off at the Harvest Supper in aid of this worthy cause.
Click on each of the photos to enlarge.
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