In our own parish, all our events were very enthusiastically supported. It was wonderful to see so many people from the community joining in. Our opening event of Beer and Hymns at the Durham Ox on Thursday Evening was an extremely enjoyable evening with a great atmosphere in the lounge and the bar where we were welcomed warmly by the regulars.
Friday afternoon at St. Michael’s saw KS2 children from Underwood and Bagthorpe schools coming together for the first time for a special assembly led by two of the mission team. I am not certain that they are usually encouraged to shout as loud as they can in a school assembly! Hotdogs and burgers were served up on Friezeland recreation ground the mark the start of the autumn term for the church open youth work team. It was lovely to hear our guest youth worker comment on how polite our young people are and how nice it was to see such a range of ages playing on the new scooter park with 15 year olds watching out for the younger kids. A highlight of our ‘Showtime 2019’ event at Underwood Institute was the Bagthorpe Primary School singing their ‘Song for Freddie’ with Freddie actually present!
Our Tools with A Mission Tool-Drop café on Saturday had a steady flow of folk enjoying the atmosphere and chat. We were delighted to have folk from Kirkby Men-in-Sheds, Brinsley Headstocks, Friends of Colliers Wood with displays present telling how we can be involved in the community. Dawn Justice with remembrance poppies and our own Living with Loss group provided hands on activities for the day. If you still have unwanted tools for collection or want to know more about Men-in-Sheds then Paul 07554664831 will be pleased to hear from you.
It was a real pleasure and privilege to have The Archbishop, Dr John Sentamu, telling his amazing, inspirational and encouraging story at the Newstead Centre to such a large number of people from across the Diocese. The Archbishop was interviewed by Frances Finn of BBC Radio Nottingham before telling his story and answering a wide variety of questions from the captivated audience.
The end of the oneLIFE weekend in our Parish was appropriately rounded off by the informal café style morning worship led by Rachel Lake with many personal faith stories being shared. Although the mission team were already back on the round home by the afternoon the celebrations continued at St Michael’s our first Messy Church of the new term marking Messy Church’s new monthly slot on the third Sunday of every month.