It is exciting to be a member of Mothers’ Union, a four million strong community in 84 countries around the world, with the aims of empowering women and strengthening families and communities through love, faith and fellowship. Its mission is to work with people of all faiths and none to support communities and advocate for positive change. We are focused on ending violence, poverty and injustice, striving to create a better tomorrow for all, where everyone can thrive.Here at St Gabriel’s, we have an active group of 26 members and we are always very happy to welcome new ones. We meet monthly on Thursday afternoons at 2pm in the Parish Centre. Do contact the Parish Office like to know more and maybe come along to one or two meetings to see if you would be interested in joining us.In September we thought and talked about preparing for autumn, touching on the beauty in nature, how our home menus change with the seasons so we are now making soups and cooking hot vegetables instead of salads, changing into warmer clothes, getting the winter duvets out and having the central heating boilers serviced. We read some autumn poetry, thought about how animals prepare for the colder weather ahead, how trees shed their leaves in a spectacular and colourful display and also mentioned the harvest time, from collecting apples and blackberries for delicious crumble puddings to being thankful for all we enjoy.Our meeting in October was an inspiring visit to The Lighthouse Project in Byker, thanks to Victoria Screen’s kind invitation. Victoria is the Youth and Community Hub Manager there. After a warm welcome and refreshments, Victoria showed us round this wonderful set of rooms and resources developed from St Michael’s Church, which still uses part of the original church building. The Lighthouse Project’s main community space and the areas off it are beautiful, open, flexible and becoming very well used by young people and the wider community for a variety of activities including sport, dance, music, cooking, art and crafts. On Saturday morning, October 25th, we held a coffee morning in the vestry to raise funds for the work of the Mothers’ Union locally, nationally and internationally. It was a happy and successful event, raising a total of £285 on the day from the small number of generous people there, and the following morning at Parish Breakfast. Grateful thanks to all those who helped in any way.
On our September St Gabriel’s gardening morning, we planted another 200 tete a tete narcissi bulbs into our Friends’ area in readiness for the spring. We added 8 large bags of non-peat compost to improve the growing area then planted 30 cyclamen plants to give us autumn colour. The bulbs, plants and compost were donated and the labour was also freely given, so all this was achieved without touching our Friends’ account. Many thanks to all concerned.The Autumn Coffee Morning organised by the Friends of St Gabriel’s took place on Saturday 20th September. Despite the torrential rain which lasted most of the morning, many Friends, church people and visitors from the wider community braved the downpour. It was a happy, busy morning. The refreshments counter, cakes and produce stall, raffle and card game, and the jewellery stall all made good sales. Just as important were the levels of conversation and participation. The generosity of those able to come raised a grand total of £710 by the end of Parish Breakfast the next day!At last, the large print edition of the Revised English Hymnal for use at Evensong was published and within a week, we received the 6 copies we had ordered. They all now bear book plates celebrating their donation to St Gabriel’s from the Friends, in gratitude to God for 125 years of St Gabriel’s Church, 1899 – 2024. So Friends have been able to buy all the Evensong hymn books for congregational use comprising 15 copies of the melody edition, 10 copies of the words only edition and 6 copies of the large print edition. A generous grant reduced the total cost of all these books to £430.The Friends offered up to £500 to improve the Children’s Corner in church, used every week by littlies during the Parish Eucharist and often during the week by visitors who are spending time enjoying the beauty and peace within our Church. Much thought is being given to this project. A starting point was considering better storage so Friends have paid for a new pine storage unit and a children’s bookcase with toy box, a total of £144.95. They look very smart.PCC have recently agreed to proceed with a most exciting venture which could see us gain a ring of twelve bells, with appropriate soundproofing, in our magnificent tower which has only ever had one bell, probably as only one could be afforded in 1899. I thought it would be a wonderful heritage project to have one of those as a designated Friends’ bell as a permanent reminder for potentially centuries to come about how important our Friends are to us. We shall have to save up! Anne Pickering
At our March meeting, we enrolled two more new members and we are so pleased they have chosen to join us. The March meeting continued with Helen Cooper, Alnmouth and Lesbury Branch Leader, talking and inspiring us before helping us all to complete a piece of cross stitch, most of us choosing to make a palm-sized cross. The Mothers’ Union recently had some exciting news. Our new Patron is to be Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh. She was appointed in February, succeeding Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who held the role until her passing in 2022. In April, we held our Lent lunch and members enjoyed a choice of three homemade soups served with bread, cheeses and biscuits, tea and coffee. Canon Jonathan joined us and preceded our lunch by saying grace. Wyn Findlay, one of our longest-standing members, gave an inspirational reflection after lunch, linking the work of Mothers’ Union with her Headship in Scotswood and highlighting the importance of looking after families while always giving them hope. We had a lovely time and generously donated £80 to Mothers’ Union projects.
