Encounter trip to DovedaleEach year our Encounter group go to Dovedale House for a weekend residential. Here are a few pictures from our recent visit. Music For An Autumn EveningAt a guess, about 150 people were privileged to see a wonderful concert on 28 September 2013 in St Michael's. Judith Holt (Soprano), Kimberley Raw (Soprano), Tom Cameron (Baritone) and James Hendry (piano) from the Royal Northern College of Music were joined by our own Allen Roberts (Tenor) and John Taylor (Piano) for a wide ranging mixture of music. The performance began with Arias from Mozart operas, songs by Handel and Haydn, included traditional folk songs, settings of poems, and concluded with a few popular 20th century songs (including Gershwin's sublime Summertime). Magnificent voices, singers who obviously loved what they were doing, intelligent but not obtrusive accompaniment and the beautiful acoustics of the church made this an evening to remember. I am sure everybody present would wish to thank sincerely the performers and the organisers / backroom workers. Tettenhall Parish Cradle Roll PartyOur annual party for those children who have baptised in one of the three churches in this parish was held on the afternoon of Thursday July 25th at The Church of Christ the King, Aldersley. As in previous years the weather was on our side and the children enjoyed being ably to play outside before the proceedings began. As usual the children listened to a Bible story which was followed by related activities. This year the story was the parable of Jesus of the Men who built their houses on rocks and sand. After being told the story by Dawn and singing about it the children enjoyed a variety of play activities related to building houses. A Party tea was provided by the team of Cradle Roll visitors under Chris’s direction which was enjoyed by all. After tea the children were able to play outside again until sadly it was 5.00 and time to leave. The little ones were all given a little prayer book to take home with them. Thank you, to all who helped to make the event run so smoothly and we look forward to our next party in July 2014! Stella Salt Pictures of St MichaelsBack in September, the parish office received the following email from Stuart Cross: "Dear St Michaels and All Angels, Many thanks Stuart, sorry we took so long to publish them - all the website editor's fault.
ConfirmationSimon Douglas has provided this happy picture from the recent confirmation service. 
Palm SundayThanks to Cyril Randles for some more evocative pictures of Palm Sunday - and apologies that these stayed so long in the web editor's inbox!
Advent Services Click here to see details of the 4 services for advent. Palm Sunday
Harvest Festival Many thanks to Helen Dye for these pictures, which have sat too long in the website editor's inbox!
Saturday 19th November 7.30 pm at St Michael & All Angels Click the logo (right) for a programme and more details Dovedale, October 2011 Simon Douglas has uploaded some pictures from the recent Dovedale weekend. They are really excellent and are shown here as a slideshow. Christmas Unwrapped The Bible Society
has created a Christmas website called Christmas
Unwrapped (click to go onto it). It
has a short Christmas story, both in words and video, the offer
of some stickers for your cards and presents and a bit of information
about the Bible Society, whom St Michaels support. Just to get into
the mood for Christmas (yes, we know, it's early, but the supermarkets
are selling mincemeat and cards so we may as well get some of the
real message in early as well). ROOF APPEAL Please click here to read about the roof appeal Tettenhall Churches Annual Cradle Roll Party The children enjoyed playing outside in the sunshine before listening to the story of Noah and the Ark told to them by Dawn. Afterwards there were a variety of activities associated with the story of Noah for the little ones to explore and enjoy. A picnic tea was then eagerly received and moms and dads enjoyed a welcome cup of tea and chat. As in previous years this was a really enjoyable afternoon for the children and their parents. Thanks to Liz and Dawn and the team from Christ the King who provided the activities, for the Cradle Roll team who provided the food and for the Aldersley Play Group for the use of their toys and play area. Looking forward to next year! Stella 
Stella Salt's visit to a World Vison Project in Kenya Stella gives a first hand account of a trip to a World Vision site in Kenya where a community has been helped with education, health and economic development. Archimedes wrote "give me a lever long enough and I will move the earth". World Vision is using levers - both literal and metaphorical - of water pumps, and the levers of health and education to change the lives of hundreds of families. And this will enable the children of those families to do further work for the good of their communities. Click the picture to read the full story. New ENCOUNTER course begins soon! Calling all young people from Year 6 + …. ENCOUNTER – is a confirmation course for young people run by churches of the Tettenhall Regis Parish (St. Michael & All Angels, Tettenhall, Christ the King, Aldersley & St. Paul, Pendeford) ENCOUNTER – is a journey of discovery learning more about Jesus, the Church, yourself, and each other! ENCOUNTER – is fun with games, away days and a weekend away too! If you are interested we start on Wednesday 15 June, 7.30pm at the Parish Centre, Tettenhall. Just turn up, or ring the parish office (01902 751622) for more details, or email. KING JAMES BIBLE 1611 to 2011 - And Beyond 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. An exhibition about the King James Bible, organised by Audrey Boliver, will be held in St Michael and All Angels from 12 June to 10 July. It will be open on Saturdays and Sundays and, by appointment to groups, during the week. As part of the exhibition, readers have recorded selections of the Bible chosen by Rev Richard Reeve. These will be played during the exhibition to illustrate the beauty of the language and the timelesness of the message. Click HERE to find out more and to listen to some readings.  Dovedale
November 2010
Although the trip to Dovedale which is shown here was back in November 2010 the pictures are well worth a look. The trip coincided with the visit to the diocese of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and it is interesting to see him joining in with the activities in these photographs. As with the Easter pictures, any captions will be very welcome, ideally explaining what was happening. Please email the editor by clicking HERE. To see the gallery, click the photograph on the right.
 Easter
Activities
We are pleased to have some pictures of children's activities on Good Friday. We have no captions from an on-the-spot reporter, so if you were there perhaps you could write some? Click the picture right to see the full gallery.
Inter-faith visits A series of visits to other
faiths' places of worship has been arranged. The dates for the inter-faith
visits are: Mission Action Plan God is our creator and shows his love for his creation by being involved - sending his Son, and his Spirit to enable the world to fulfil his purpose. He calls us as Christians to be part of this mission, to further his loving purpose in the world and to enjoy fellowship with him. As a church we are called to share in God's mission in this place. St Michael's Church Council (DCC) has begun a process of shaping our vision and development plans for our future mission. During March we would like to ofler as many people as possible the chanee to share their views about the life and mission of the ehurch as it is and has been up to now, and about your vision and aspirations for the future. We would like to know what you think are the most important aspects of the Church's Mission, and the ways in which this has been most effective in your lile and the lives of others you know. We would also like your vision (even your dreams) for the future. When it comes to the future do try and think imaginatively, not in the (irst instance about how we can make it happen. but about what ideally you would like to see. We may not be able to deliver everything but your views will be taken in to account and an exciting vision can inspire and shape our future. In thinking about our vision for the future it is important to think not only of what the church has done in the past, but of the changes that have taken place in society and the new opportunities for the church to share the love of Christ in a meaningful way in the future We are keen to learn from those who at the moment don't have a strong connection with the church but think the church could play an important role for you or your community (eg in relation to schools, youth or community organisations). What would make its role more valuable for you? With your help, the review of our activities up to now and our visions for the future will, we hope equip us to make choices about where to put the emphasis in our future plans for the short, medium and long term according in a vision led approach. Over the summer we then hope to prepare a Mission Action Plan, resourced by the findings from the focus groups and other feedback. You will have seen and heard in church about the groups who have now met to discuss the vison. If you would like to add your thoughts, we have a short questionnaire which can be completed by clicking here. Vision for the Local Church “There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed and offers belonging to the marginalised of this world. Whatever the capacity of human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness. Still to this day the potential of the church is almost more than I can grasp. No other organisation on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close.” Bill Hybels in ‘Courageous Leadership’ Church on Fire
The pictures left showing Archbishop Rowan Williams and comedian Tim Vine at the November 5 Walsall Football Club function bear witness to an unusual evening combining faith, comedy, and some rather good sausages! As the website editor has never seen Dr Rowan Williams "live" before, it came as something of a surprise that he has an entertaining sense of humour (eg "what's you're favoutite firework?" -"I suppose I shouldn't say a Roman Candle"). He was interviewed for about 45 minutes by Tim Vine, and for me it could have been much longer. He was thoroughly engaging and thought provoking as well as indulging in a few jokes. Some of his comments challenged my view of conventional wisdom and I certainly left the ground with a few thoughts in my mind as well as having had a thoroughly fun evening. Tim Vine's comedy was good too! (Unofficial notes by website editor.) Harvest Festival 
We could not resist putting a photograph of the harvest festival altar on "News" as it looked so beautifully displayed with a wonderful collection of vegetables worthy of a show bench.
THE TOTALS SO FAR So far the efforts of our intrepid duo have collected:
In addiiton to the above, there will be some Gift Aid tax releif to collect. Many thanks to the kind and generous sponsors - and if you would like to join, there's still time! BDO StoyHayward, one of the large firms of accountants and business advisers in Birmingham, are Kevin's employers.
A FURTHER CAPTION Phil Williams has emailed us to suggest "If someone in authority presses you into service for one mile, go with him two." (Matthew 5.41) After that very
learned quotation, he goes on to say "After that, give him
the boot." THEY'VE DONE IT!! Richard and Kevin have achieved the 3 Peaks Challenge. Many congratulations to them. Kevin said on Wednesday 30 June: "We completed the challenge within 24 hours at 23 hrs 33 minutes. Although Richard and I worked hard - none of this would have been possible without the excellent support of Rachel my wife, who drove, and her father Terry Oakley." To prove that they've done it, here are the photographs:
It's not too late to sponsor them!: click here Apologies for late posting of photographs - website editor disappeared for a long weekend just as the news came through. 3 Peaks for a Peal?
The bells in church have not been fully restored since the fire in 1950, we have an estimate of £17,000 for this. As the bells are a very important aspect of the church, Richard Reeve and Kevin Bruerton are intending to walk the Three Peaks: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike & Snowdon, in 24 hrs(!) on 30 June. They would welcome any sponsorship you would feel able to give - Gift Aided if possible. To sponsor them,
please download this
form by clicking here and return it to the parish office
OR click
here and sponsor using the Just Giving
website:
Training for the event is in progress; here are Kevin and Richard on the peak of Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England.
Previously.........
*re "best dressed climbers" comment: website editor admits to recently running over his glasses with his car. |
The annual party for the young children who have been baptised in one of the three churches of Tettenhall Parish was held at the Church of Christ the King Pendeford Avenue on Wednesday 27th July.
