A year in the life of St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet

After Church Coffee
Olivia Tottle

Coffee after the 10am service on Sundays continues to flourish as a social gathering in the Village Hall. This is a good time to be able to welcome newcomers, and for the congregation to make new friendships and maintain established ones. Please continue to personally invite visitors to St. Mary’s to join you for a coffee in the hall after the service. We have 50 - 60 people regularly enjoying ‘Fairtrade’ refreshments.

Currently there are about 40 people on the rota. Our thanks go to several ladies, some of whom have been serving for very many years, who have felt the need to “retire” or at least take a break. A big thank you for all the cups of coffee you’ve served, and all the cups and saucers you’ve washed and dried over the years! Grateful thanks also to those who have continued on the rota. We’ve been sad that two faithful ladies have died during the year.

We’re very pleased to welcome some new people on to the team too - thank you for agreeing to do this act of service for the church. It’s also a good way of getting to know different people. If you come to Matins and would appreciate having a cup of coffee before going into the service, you are of course very welcome to join the 10am congregation in the hall.

Lent Lunches
Olivia Tottle

It was decided to have a change in 2004 from Lent Lunches every Wednesday, to the three Sundays of Communion during Lent. This enabled others who were at work to participate, and also gave an opportunity to have some slightly more lengthy input on various aspects of mission. Peter Lockyer showed a film he had made for Christian Aid on a visit to Sierra Leone, Rob Dewing gave some pointers on mission, with Nicholas Welsh speaking briefly on his and Pam’s upcoming visit to Latvia with YWAM, and Susan Barry, Area Co-ordinator for Christian Aid spoke on Trade Justice.

These talks were followed by a light lunch of soup, sandwiches and fruit. The number of adults attending on the three Sundays were approximately 38, 45 & 53, with 4 children under 10 at each lunch.

Tickets were mainly sold beforehand at a cost of £3 and £2. The total takings were £435, total expenses £95.72, making a profit of £339.28 which was given to Christian Aid. There was also a Fairtrade stall at each of the lunches, and this raised a total of £178.14.