	Welcome to The Church of the Nativity Cavendish Road/Richmond Road Corner, Leicester. LE2 7PL
The Church of the Nativity Cavendish Road Leicester. LE2 7PL (0116) 223 8046	A friendly Anglican/Methodist Partnership serving the Community of Aylestone Park
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	Past Events


	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 20^th 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 Click on each of the photos to enlarge.
	Staff Measures 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 Bethlehem and that she wants to go and visit him. She knows that this event is about to happen because this is what the scriptures, she has been carefully studying, tell her. Shortly after this announcement, an ‘L’s angel appears. Deborah is an angel in training, complete with an ‘L’ plate on her back and a push along scooter as transport! She has come to help Dorcas in her quest to meet the Messiah; Dorcas reluctantly agrees to accept Deborah’s assistance on the condition that the scooter is left behind! The Christmas Queen and the trainee angel make their way to Bethlehem . Shortly after their journey begins, they meet three wise men and their aides, who are also travelling to Bethlehem . The wise men have brought gifts for the Messiah and Dorcas wonders whether she should do the same. Conveniently a little further down the road, Dorcas and Deborah come across Sabina the street seller. Sabina also acts as the narrator for the play and helps keep the plot moving along. Dorcas exchanges all her worldly possessions with Sabina in order to buy expensive gifts for the baby Jesus, before continuing with her journey. The good news is travelling fast and we share a scene with some shepherds including a song and ovine jokes (what does a ram say to his wife when he wants her attention? Hey ewe!) 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. When the pair arrive in Bethlehem , they find themselves at the infamous inn and ask where they will find the Messiah they’ve been searching for. It transpires that they have just missed him (last seen heading for Egypt ). Shortly after this, a tired old woman appears on stage, weary from her own search for the elusive baby! The inn keeper won’t take her in without payment (surprise, surprise), so Dorcas gives up her remaining gifts as payment for a bed and a meal for the old woman. Sabina then returns to the stage and describes the traditional nativity scene as it is silently acted out on stage. 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 original idea behind the Advent Wreath Weekend was to extend the outreach work of the church by offering local businesses the opportunity of publicising their work in the form of a decorated wreath. It was very pleasing, therefore, when we received more than enough wreaths this year from both local businesses and church activities to decorate all of the walls of the church. The display was completed by the hanging of the Advent Banners behind the Altar and the wreath containing the Advent Candles. The weekend concluded with a very successful Advent Carol Service organised by Nativity’s Worship Leaders. Pat Ewen 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 began with the heart of the church - the Empty Cross with The Bible, the bread and wine of Holy Communion, central in the design as in the Church. At each corner are the churches that became The Church of the Nativity - not an easy task with just a few photographs of St James the Less in Lansdowne Road - just what was behind the privet hedge? The Records Office provided blueprints of Southfields Drive Methodist Church , while a session sitting outside provided the old Vernon Road Church , now a double glazing workshop. Cavendish Road Church was quite easy with some old photographs and our present building. Linking the four churches are panels representing Baptism, Marriage, Funerals, Mothering Sunday, Candlemas and hands indicating the Welcome you will receive at Nativity. Framing all of these are other aspects of the life and work of our church. From top-left, clockwise: Nativity Players Drama Group, Nativity a Fair-Trade church, The Children's Society & Action for Children, The Park Singers, The Newsletter then Tuesday Afternoon Fellowship, Remembrance Day poppies, The Needleworkers followed by Amnesty International. Along the bottom the Supper Club, our Advent Wreath Festival, Nativity Strollers, Harvest Festival and Fund Raising. The Christingle is followed by Eco-Congregation, the Shoebox Appeal for Operation Christmas Child and finally John Wesley's "The World is My Parish". 30 panels in all. 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.