Spotlight on ... Older People's Ministry

We are a church who have a long history of valuing older people. Our last staff member was Brenda Greenwood who was in post in 2010, and since then we have flourished with all volunteers!

June Dodge runs a weekly day time cell for older people and the Meatons host a Tuesday cell group for most of us involved with older people, but not exclusively.

We have a monthly Sunday@3 (third Sunday) which is a quieter service with the organ and similar liturgy each month, accessible for people for whom that is attractive. It's always followed by tea and cake, sitting at tables, which is a highlight.

We run monthly care home services (fourth Thursday) for Stanwell and Ashwood care homes in Shirley Avenue, which David Wagstaff has written about. Catherine Humphreys runs a zoom service for other care homes with Caraway.

There is a brilliant monthly Luncheon Club, capably hosted by Claire Clements, Margaret Wagstaff and James Levitt, currently meeting in church while the Parish Hall is being revamped. We also have an annual Holiday@Home, where we transform the Church into an international destination and invite people from the community to come with us, for food, activities and crafts. We’ve travelled to New Zealand, Spain and Italy so far, and this year we are going to Ireland.

Quite a few of us are getting a bit older ourselves and would love some fresh blood!! Those of you recently retired, might you like to dip in to one of these ministries? Or if you're at home with a young child, you’d be welcome to come along and chat to people. Most events are monthly and daytime, and very much serving our community. And we’d love as many of you as possible to join our holiday in Ireland on July 16th.

If you want to know more, contact the people named (!) or me, Esther (Clift).