Wow! Felt like our 10th opening day was our busiest ever. So many visitors, so many puzzles. Thank you to all our visitors. Apologies to anyone who needed to wait to be served and thank you for your patience – we always know we can be really busy on the first day but this exceeded all expectations. Both festival and café were incredibly busy. And thank you to our volunteers in the festival and the café for all your incredible hard work. If you visited <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/740655961256197/?__cft__[0]=AZWeFptma7Li5IwqrA0r7oo0Fnx6qL47BcPt4vvVI_JKc9ZySQLQfRoo-z7Q735k-OPOBXufSD955helP2Zd7o6Ln5sdh5vHKD1HN3bQzeH47caYA4adA1JyIkrgZEejODdc0X_3AHQ2Lwo42_6cm_sqrYth2McB-MOCk6Jp8Tg0AkWPtN0zHdk7GmAVc5UQg1QQ2iEwY8Zzsu0T3-lEFbAs&__tn__=-UK-R">The Ramsbottom Jigsaw Festival 2024</a> today, please remember your programme will allow you free re-admission across the festival. Whether returning tomorrow or coming for the first time, though, don’t worry - there is still a mountain of puzzles to display over the next three days and a lot of lovely home-baking to enjoy in the café.
So this afternoon, we took over the nice and tidy interior of St Paul’s Church and we did this to it.The first phase of preparations for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/740655961256197/?__cft__[0]=AZUpNv0-qN9O01o0iNZhoeAQHuTYaQYK_Jzahvnye-IpN-ELo6kZ01Z2IHnRJ5OHV-17F1w7k_hlvHPO6hfLBdJYsp8Psg3LZ4DNTWEFI1qqFiuiMH1oNumAN4Hz3UEZIOY_AKujnqu6sVJtWAT44XwPWuVZfRgIIqCUjwESiJPfqAw8WBEv_vaIteVuGn6l16Q&__tn__=-UK-R">The Ramsbottom Jigsaw Festival</a> always looks a bit chaotic. Another two days to go but, after this it does get better, honest! The next couple of days will see a lot of hard work but eventually everything will be in place for opening to our visitors on Wednesday 4 September.Thank you to everyone who came along to help and especially those who stayed on far longer than they had intended. So many hands definitely did make light work and despite the fact that it looks like bedlam, we really did make incredible progress.
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Ramsbottomjigsawfestival?__cft__[0]=AZVSQLL6fmi5twLth1uFsKfu4hpicF9y0VlhqXKpQlZv4ocuWWYbT0NPY9IOS2CGAIRzBiF95CCcf9HbZY2JrJWsfvkLj_ayi-xAr2Q7htYdJjDX20D9UaxiDm9xodhe069Tu97tzyebMKFEsiDFl-MXkyG_GNZPL0T5WCcYzjt_2Q&__tn__=-UC*F">Ramsbottom Jigsaw-Festival</a>Thank you to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rammyringers?__cft__[0]=AZVSQLL6fmi5twLth1uFsKfu4hpicF9y0VlhqXKpQlZv4ocuWWYbT0NPY9IOS2CGAIRzBiF95CCcf9HbZY2JrJWsfvkLj_ayi-xAr2Q7htYdJjDX20D9UaxiDm9xodhe069Tu97tzyebMKFEsiDFl-MXkyG_GNZPL0T5WCcYzjt_2Q&__tn__=-]K*F">St Paul's Church bell ringers</a> for taking time out from their Thursday night practice to bring down all of the cardboard and wooden boards stored above the parish room and used to stage <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/740655961256197/?__cft__[0]=AZVSQLL6fmi5twLth1uFsKfu4hpicF9y0VlhqXKpQlZv4ocuWWYbT0NPY9IOS2CGAIRzBiF95CCcf9HbZY2JrJWsfvkLj_ayi-xAr2Q7htYdJjDX20D9UaxiDm9xodhe069Tu97tzyebMKFEsiDFl-MXkyG_GNZPL0T5WCcYzjt_2Q&__tn__=-UK*F">The Ramsbottom Jigsaw Festival</a> in church.<br><br>Much appreciated and such a big help!
As part of developing our Value of “Growing Disciples” the PCC have agreed to start running a series of Alpha “Lite” courses - using the first 6 or 7 Alpha sessions instead of the 15 that make up the full Alpha course. The first course will start in September this year with a further two courses planned for 2025 and then two more in 2026. The first course will be held on Tuesday evenings from 7pm - 9pm and run for six consecutive Tuesdays from 10th September, finishing on Tuesday 22nd October. If you are interested in exploring more about your faith, wanting to know more about Jesus or want to know why and how to pray, then the Alpha Lite Course may well be for you. If you have a friend who might be interested, why not invite them and come along to support them during the course. To book onto the course please email: curious@retm.org.uk or for more information speak to either Ian Fleming, Lesley Stear or Martin Hall.
