Evergreentrees represent life in the cold and dark of winter, whilst their adorningornaments symbolise parts of the Nativity story and Jesus Christ as the lightof the world. St Peter, Cradley…
Evergreentrees represent life in the cold and dark of winter, whilst their adorningornaments symbolise parts of the Nativity story and Jesus Christ as the lightof the world.
Thisyear, St Peters Church, Cradley, are hosting their first ever Christmas Tree Festival,displaying trees decorated by local businesses and community groups, in orderto celebrate the whole community. A donation of 10 has been made to charityfor each tree and visitors will be asked to give 2 on admittance; all proceedswill be split between local charities and the churchs project to improve itsaccessibility. The festival will launch at 6pm on Friday 7 December, accompanied by carols from Cradley CE Primary School Choir. Choirsfrom local schools will also visit the church intermittently during the event,singing seasonal songs to spread Christmas cheer. Visitors will have theexciting opportunity to climb the tower on Saturday 8 December,from 11am until early afternoon! A further carol service led by Cradley GirlGuides will close the festival at 3pm on Sunday 9 December, atwhich time businesses and community groups will be invited to collect theirtrees, to display on their premises for the remainder of the Christmas season.
Allare welcome to this special event. Look out for photographs on the churchsFacebook page: www.facebook.com/StPetersChurchCradley.Find out more about St Peters, Cradley, on their website: www.stpeterscradley.org.
Asimilar Christmas Tree Festival is taking place nearby at St Johns Church,Dudley Wood and Cradley Heath. Now in its fifth year, this festival isrunning throughout Advent and the Christmas season. With more than 30 treesthis year, local schools, business, community groups and individuals will bewonderfully represented in the church. This years trees include a beautiful100-year Remembrance Tree given by Corngreaves Primary School, with sponsorshipfrom George Green Solicitors. 100 years of womens suffrage is alsorepresented, as is Tesco and local company, Chapmans Electrical. Year 1 atDudley Wood Primary School have decorated a penguin tree, whilst the Rainbowshave created a Rainbow tree. Local children have also helped to decorate treeson behalf of the local foodbank and UNICEF.
StJohns welcome everyone to come and enjoy their brilliant display of trees.More information about St Johns, Dudley Wood and Cradley Heath, can be foundon their website: http://www.stjohnsdudleywood.org/index.htm.
This weekend also sees the annual ChristmasTree at St Thomas’s Church in Stourbridge. The church has over 30 interesting, colourful, quirky and imaginative treesdesigned by local charities, organisations and community groups.The Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Alan Taylor will be visiting at 12.30pm on Sunday. He said:
“It’s a real pleasure to be invited to the StThomas’s Christmas Tree Festival. As well as helping to get people into theChristmas spirit, the festival will raise money for two local charities. I hopethat lots of people drop in over the three days to see all the beautifullydecorated trees and find out more about the charities, organisations andcommunity groups who have designed them.”
The Festival at St Thomas runs on Friday 7 December between 10am &6pm; Saturday 8 December between 10am & 4pm and Sunday 9 December between12pm & 4pm.
WorcesterCathedrals hugely popular Christmas Tree Festival will also return to thecloisters this year, launching on Saturday 8 December. Localbusinesses, charities and schools will provide and decorate 100 glittering treesto line the medieval cloisters, creating a magical display. Donations arewelcome throughout the event, to support the cathedral and its work. The trees willbe in place until Thursday 3 January.
Further information about Christmas services and events at Worcester Cathedralare available on their website: http://www.worcestercathedral.co.uk/.
The congregation of Cookley St Peter decided this year to resurrect the annual Christmas Tree festival. Over 30 local groups and individuals including Cookley Sebright School have agreed to put a Christmas tree in the festival. The festival will be the focus of the Carol service on 20th December where instead of candle light it will be Christmas Tree light. The Church will be open during the day throughout the festival and as advertised refreshments will be available for visitors.
At the recent Clergy Conference, the diocesan stewardship team launched a Boomerang offering, to help activate generosity across the Diocese. Each person was given a £5 note to take home, pray with and see what act of generosity God was calling them towards. We also asked them to share their stories of how the money was used.
Many of our churches hosted ‘light parties’ at the end of October as a popular alternative to Halloween. Some of our renewal churches hosted the biggest celebrations.
Our diocese has been awarded £3.6 million to continue to support churches as part of phase two of our programme to ensure our churches are healthy and sustainable for the future.
Kelly Gordon is a member of Wordsley Parish in Greater Dudley Deanery. She has recently been selected as one of only three people in the UK to be part of the Leaders Europe programme within the Obama Foundation.
St Peter’s CE Academy and St Peter’s Church in the Saltway Team have been awarded a silver Church and School Partnership Award recognising the close relationship between the church, school and local community.
This year’s Church of England Advent and Christmas theme focuses on the first and greatest Christmas gift of all: the gift of God being born as one of us in Jesus Christ.
An article from Archdeacon Mark for December editions of parish magazines.
The Muslim-Christian dialogue group in Lye, Stourbridge, arranged a litter pick on 31 October to clear up two local streets.
A new singing group for children will launch at St Peter’s Centre at Pedmore Church on 15 November, 10 years after Singing Angels originally began at St Andrew’s Church on the Straits.
Bishop Hugh visited Cropthorne with Charlton C of E First School on 3 November to share in their collective worship and meet with the children.
