Newsletter
Winter 2024
Dear Friends at St Margaret’s,
Firstly, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
I can’t believe it is this time of year again! And 2 years since I joined you all as minister!! I want to say thank you to you all for all your support and enthusiasm and entering into everything we do wholeheartedly (even some of my wacky ideas!!).
Happily, and its testament to the warm welcome people receive here, we have grown in numbers on a Sunday over the last few years. However, we have sadly also lost some longstanding members and much-loved friends – we remember them all with fondness and love and pray for the families and friends who still grieve their loss.
The numbers attending the things we offer have remained stable – and the toddler group still has a waiting list!!! I love working with this group – and it’s beginning to see rewards in families requesting baptisms for their little ones! This is a true blessing to our community!!
But it’s not always just about numbers – it’s about how we engage, and I’ve seen this especially this Christmas.
We have worked with our friends at St Gregory’s to do Love Christmas – over £3,000 worth of items were collected and 350 bags made ready to be given out! These will go to a variety of people and families to make their Christmas a little better and to tell them that we, in the churches of the Nook and Shields, love them and so does the God we serve!
Our prayer is that the folks who receive a bag may glimpse a small part of God’s love for them!
So, keep sharing the love of God through the things we can do, the words we say and the love we share!!
Every blessing and much love this Christmas.
Jane
ST MARGARET’S CHURCH FAMILY
This year two of our members, Mrs Sylvia Briggs and Mrs Anne Price sadly passed away. Both were very active in the life of our church, and they will be sorely missed, as will Revd Norma Johnson and Edith Stephenson’s husband Allan, who also passed away this year. We continue to hold these friends in our memories.
We also welcomed three children through baptism, Darcie and Emily McLeod, and Kyle Robertson.
FIRE SAFETY PROJECT
We now have a fire alarm system installed at church, and signs showing the dedicated escape routes, which must not be blocked by furniture etc. Fire doors, emergency lighting and motion sensitive lights have also been installed. On completion of some minor snagging items, we will receive Certificates of Installation and Commissioning, and the system will be fully operational next month. Thank you for your patience while this work was undertaken and thanks also to all those who came together to clean our premises.
OUTSIDE NOTICEBOARDS
A very large noticeboard has been installed on the car park railings to advertise our church contact details, including our Minister’s contact details. There is a section in which we can put church notices advertising special services, coffee mornings etc. The existing noticeboard on the grass beside the car park will be remodelled and updated to reflect the changes and will be moved to the railings facing the Nook shops. The original noticeboard there will be removed at the same time. A special thank you goes to Katie Wilkes for her strenuous endeavours in this project.
ADVENT WREATH
Our beautiful Advent wreath was made by Laura Ridley and on your behalf, I would like to thank her very much.
RED BOX
The red box on the stage continues to be filled on a weekly basis with tins, dried food items and toiletries for the Key 2Life Food Bank, which is situated on Boldon Lane, South Shields. Many thanks to all of you who contribute to this.
Penny Maccoy
THANK YOU LETTERS
Harvest Weekend, 5th and 6th October
The Coffee Morning, together with donations, raised £327.30 for Christian Aid. In addition, thirteen bags of tins etc. were given to the Key Food Bank.
Operation Christmas Child – Samaritan’s Purse International
In November, twenty-two shoeboxes were filled with gifts for children including £5 in cash – a total of £110. Further monetary donations were received totalling £140. Therefore, a cheque for £250 was sent off with love from all who supported this.
Christmas Bazaar, 16th November
Once again everyone pulled together, and a good crowd enjoyed the afternoon. A grand total of £1,539 was raised for our church funds.
Coffee and Chat on Thursdays and Sunday Mornings
£50 was given to each of the following: Grace Place Café South Shields; Ethans Arc South Shields; Mercy Ships and the Key2Life Food Bank.
Christmas Greetings
Donations from the Christmas Greetings on pages 6 and 7 raised £105 for UNICEF, c/o Colin Bird.
Brenda Brownless
TODDLERS AND CARERS
This year we have had a busy time making lots of different kinds of artwork, including a lovely sea-side mural, with lots of fishes and crabs, painted by the children. You can see what the children have made throughout the year if you go into the Choir Room where their art is displayed on the wall. They especially enjoyed singing songs with Hazel and Jane at the end of the session.
This Christmas they also painted triangular shapes and glued them onto cardboard to make a Christmas tree, complete with glitter, which is on a wall in the church hall and looks great. They enjoyed making Christmas cards with lots of glitter and glue!
We had a visit from Santa Claus at our party. The children each received a present and a selection box, together with a Christmas book from Jane. The helpers also got lovely presents from the mothers/carers/ grandparents and then we had a lovely buffet.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Margaret, Hazel, Edith, Penny, Laura and Jane
RAINBOWS
So that was the year that was, we started off with one Rainbow Unit, then stopped another one from closing down, but it was a little too much, so we went back to one larger group.
This year we have visited the Glass Centre in Sunderland, attended Whickham Thorns Activity Centre where the girls did Archery, Crate Stacking and best of all Snow Tubing without the snow, ha! It was a lovely day for them all and the weather was very kind to us, if anything it was a little too hot.
For the first time this year we also did an end of year Talent Show where we invited the parents in, and the girls put on a show for them. It was a very enjoyable evening and the girls loved it. I believe the parents also enjoyed it.
For our summer end of term, we held our own vote during the election and the girls voted to attend the Dunes Play Area.
During this term the Rainbows have been to the climbing wall, and we also attended the Annual Division pantomime, with the other Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, which they thoroughly enjoyed, even though it was a late night for them all.
In addition to the above, we have also been working towards badges and some of the girls have been awarded their Bronze and Silver Awards.
As you can see, we have had a very busy time this year and look forward to many more adventures next year. All that remains for me to say is that all the Leaders at Rainbows wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Happy New Year.
Linda Fernandez, Rainbow Leader
BROWNIES
Hello everyone, what a great year we have had!
The girls earned their performing badge by inventing a girl pop group, creating a band name, writing and performing the lyrics – what a great fun night it was by all. They also received their aviation badge for making kites and gliders this year.
We enjoyed decorating (and eating) pancakes for Shrove Tuesday and making lots of crafts and puzzles for Easter. We’ve also done some science experiments, made our own escape room, had a whodunit night, a nature walk up to Cleadon Hills, and, one of our all-time favourites, was paddle boarding at the beach.
Most recently, we have been to the pantomime to see Mother Goose, sung Christmas Carols at Cheviot Court Care Home and baked and decorated mini-Christmas cakes (they looked amazing and were yummy). We will be ending the year with a couple of games of bowling at the Dunes.
On behalf of myself and the Brownies, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for 2025!
Julie Elliott, Brownie Leader (aka Brown Owl)
St Margaret’s Dates for January to March 2025
Services start at 10.30am
January
Sunday 5th Worship Group
Sunday 12th Dr Gordon Aitken
Sunday 19th Mrs Barbara Ledger
Sunday 26th Revd Greg Thompson
Friday 31st AGM at 10.30am
February
Sunday 2nd Revd Jane Rowell with Communion service
Sunday 9th Worship Group
Sunday 16th Revd Greg Thompson
Friday 21st Quarterly Church Meeting at 10.30am
Sunday 23rd Mrs Barbara Ledger
March
Sunday 2nd Revd Jane Rowell
Sunday 9th Revd Greg Thompson
Sunday 16th Worship Group
Sunday 23rd Mrs Barbara Ledger
Sunday 30th 11am Joint Pastorate service at Roker URC led by Revd Jane Rowell – Mothering Sunday
Singing Group
Every Monday at 7pm.
Thursday Morning Coffee and Chat
Every Thursday from 10.30am till noon.
Bible Study
Stepwise, a 7-week course, will start on Friday, 14th February from 10.30am until noon. This will run on the second and fourth Fridays in February, March, April and finishing on 9th May. Further details will be forthcoming.
St Margaret’s Café
Last Friday in each month, 10.30am until 1pm.
www.stmargaretsurc.org.uk