On Saturday 15th October, a cheque was handed over to the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) for the amount of £1,916. MNDA was selected by the Parochial Church Council at St Helens Church as the charity to receive donations during the months of May – August. The donations were collected at St Helens Day in May, and at the regular Saturday morning and Sunday Tea at The Tower openings. A very big thank you to everyone who donated so generously. The cheque was presented to Mike Coleman, local chair of MNDA. Other representatives of MNDA were present alongside Church Warden Ken Moth and St Helens member David Hodkinson who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in February 2021. David commented “every penny raised gives real hope that a cure can be found.” The MNDA provide invaluable help and support to people diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and their families and friends
Members of St. Helen's Knit and Natter group, with the help of people from the town, have been busy during the last 12 months knitting and crocheting flowers for displays inside and outside the Church as part of Northwich in Bloom 2022. The children from Witton Church Walk School have made felt flowers to add to the displays.The origional intention was to hang the flowers down the church tower. Unfortunately it has been a particularly windy summer and this has caused a few technical problems and the flowers had to be taken down. The flowers are now diplayed above the entrance to the church and inside the church. The picture shows some of the children from Witton Church Walk School with a display of their flowers which is now hanging in the church porch. St. Helen's is proud to be part of ‘Northwich in Bloom’, part of ‘North West In Bloom’, which encourages local communities to improve their surroundings through horticultural excellence, community involvement and environmental friendliness. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make the displays possible.
St Helen’s contribution to ‘Northwich in Bloom’ consists of thousands of knitted, crocheted and felt flowers cable-clipped to netting hanging down the tower and spelling out ‘Northwich in Bloom 2022’ along the South Aisle wall. So many flowers to cut out, knit and crochet (5000 in all) and attach to netting (a really back-breaking job). And then the careful, time-consuming task of securing the netting against the side of the tower. Thank you, everyone who helped make it all happen: the knitters, the crocheteers, children from Witton Church Walk School, the cable clippers, and the people up the tower, on the ground , on ladders and on the roof, making everything secure! Unfortunately the display of knitted flowers has been damaged by the wind and rain we had at the beginning of July. Remedial repair works have proved unsuccessful and further significant damage to both displays has meant that both have had to be removed. The PCC has agreed to a team being formed to work out a way to display the flowers in a safe and sustainable way. Please watch this space for further news and developments.
