Sunday Service: 11am Quarterly Newsletter March - May 2018 Minister: Revd Dr Wendy Kilworth-Mason

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1 Sunday Service: 11am Quarterly Newsletter March - May 2018 Minister: Revd Dr Wendy Kilworth-Mason wkilworthmason@gmail.com

2 Off on sabbatical And so I really am going to Zimbabwe. I visited there several times when I was a mission partner in neighbouring Zambia ( ). In those days, as the Kaunda regime in Zambia came to its end amidst economic disorder, Zimbabwe was the 'fleshpots,' expatriates working in Zambia would take their cars across the border for a holiday in a wellrun hotel and would stock up their cupboards. I once drove back from Victoria Falls with a boot-full of salt, sugar and flour, commodities that were in short supply in Zambia. I also remember that raspberries were grown in Zimbabwe, so you could buy raspberry jam, a change from the strawberry or mixed fruit jams that were in our supermarkets. When I made a brief visit to Zambia in 2000, to preach at the graduation ceremony at the Theological College where I'd taught, I learned that the economic situations of the neighbouring countries had reversed. Though some of the fragile Zambian industries had declined or disappeared the country was awash with South African goods, indeed the old state-run stores had been supplanted by South African chains. I heard that tourists from Zimbabwe were now crossing the border to shop in Zambia. So, my memories of Zimbabwe are of its relatively well-to-do era and I do wonder what I shall experience this trip. However, as you are aware, my most recent African experience was in one of the continent's most impoverished nations. In Sierra Leone I would have liked running water and some electricity, not to mention a roof that didn't leak in the rains, and windows whose metal frames were not distorted (so that they couldn't be closed), walls without holes you could see through would have been nice. When I receive s from Zimbabwe that are discussing whether they'll be able to get wi-fi, satellite TV and a microwave into the guest flat prior to my coming I realise that despite what we have all seen in the news about Zimbabwe recently it is a far more developed country than Sierra Leone. I anticipate that it will be less physically demanding than was West Africa because the climate is less enervating. As to the United Theological College in Harare where I am to be for 6 weeks, the curriculum looks very familiar and from exploring their website I sense that the ethos of the College may prove similar to that of the UCZ College more than 20 years ago. The Principal writes that they are excited to be welcoming me and he promises that they will introduce me to the Methodist Church Zimbabwe and suggests that I might want to visit Great Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls while I'm in the country (I've already been to both, so I may forego that). When I return, I look forward to sharing my experiences with you. My sabbatical starts on 15 March and lasts for 3 months. See you in the summer. Wendy Kilworth-Mason Christmas Donations Collections at our Christmas services and the children's Advent Crafts event totalled which has been donated to Action for Children (formerly NCH). Thank you to everyone who contributed. Katie Bell

3 Quiz Night On Saturday 10 February we held our Pie, Peas and Quiz night. The event was a sell-out, with people attending from all across West Cumbria including other Methodist Churches, The Foodbank and the Anglican church. We were really pleased that Richard Teal, our chair of district was also able to attend. We were treated to slices of delicious meat and potato pie, accompanied by peas and gravy, very ably organised and prepared by Gillian, Christine and Linda. This was followed by the usual amazing array of homemade desserts which seem to appear at our church events whenever requested! Once everyone was full and sleepy, we began the quiz! Questions had been devised by Linda and were presented by Katie and Alistair. All 8 teams scored very well, answering rounds of questions including Food, Geography, Bridges, Literature, Women and Royalty. The picture round involved identifying who lives in notable real or fictitious buildings/places. The team of Hell s Angels, who had been in the lead for several rounds, finally lost out to Teal s Teamsters by one point in the very last round. Prizes were given at the halfway and end points. The raffle was also drawn during the quiz, with Jackie Davies winning a giant hamper of Fairtrade goods. The event was held in aid of our Circuit charity, Calderwood House, and we raised 384 for this cause. Thank you to everyone who came and supported the event, and thank you to those who helped with the food provision, preparation and serving, the quiz, and the setting up and clearing away. Katie Bell

4 Moving Mountains Mission 8-11 March 2018 Moving Mountains will be upon us very soon and details of the various events hosted by Egremont Methodist Church can be seen on this page and the next. There is also a board in The Meeting Place giving details of events we are organising and other events hosted by different churches in the Mission Community. I wrote in the last edition of the Newsletter about the welcome event on the Thursday evening hosted by Open House Fellowship and about two of the Saturday events. These are the coffee morning which will provide us with an opportunity to Quiz the Clergy namely Rev Chris Moore, and the Craft afternoon, preparing for Mothering Sunday, with Rev Canon Dr Rosemarie Mallet. Another event has since been added to our programme. On the Saturday evening at 7pm. Luke will give a talk called Exploring Mountains in which he will cover his time climbing in the Alps and America, and climbing the Matterhorn with Paul last August. This will be followed by a quiz on mountains, a talk by a team member on Spiritual Mountains, and Pizza and Ice Cream. The weekend will be rounded off with our service on Sunday morning led by Jill Baker the vice president of the Methodist Conference. We will be joined by members from St Bees and Frizington churches and there will be a faith lunch afterwards to which all team members have been invited. Do stay after the service, share lunch and chat with them before they set off home. Please think who you can invite to these events, we hope we have thought of something for everyone and are looking forward to an exciting time full of God s blessings. If you haven t yet picked up a prayer sheet to help you prepare for the mission then there are still some available at church along with flyers for the various events. Gillian Bounds

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6 Churches Together Coming Events The Egremont Lent soup lunches will take place on the first six Thursdays in Lent in The Meeting Place between 11-30am and 1pm with the following participating churches being responsible for hosting: Thursday 15 th February Thursday 22 th February - Egremont Methodist - Egremont Anglican Thursday 1 st March - Thornhill and Haile Parish Churches Thursday 8 th March Thursday 15 th March Thursday 22 th March - Egremont St Mary s Roman Catholic - The Men - All the churches* *For this final week each participating church should provide some soup. This year Egremont St Mary's Roman Catholic church will have overall responsibility. The proceeds from the lunches will be split between Christian Aid and CAFOD. These lunches are popular: by supporting them you will enjoy fellowship with others as well as helping the charities. Lent lunches at St Bees Priory: New College Hall 12noon - 2pm Saturdays 24 th Feb. to 24 th March. Walks with the Cross in Holy Week. The route for this year will be: Palm Sunday 25 th March, 3pm: From St Bees Priory round village to St Bees Methodist. Monday 26 th March, 5-30pm: From St Bees Methodist to St John s Bigrigg. Tuesday 27 th March, 5-30pm: From St John s Bigrigg to Emmanuel, Moor Row. Wednesday 28 th March, 5-30pm: From Emmanuel, Moor Row to Egremont Methodist. Friday 30 th March, 5-30pm: From Egremont Methodist round town to Egremont Parish Church. Each walk is preceded by and ended with a short act of worship and refreshments. Would people please wear fluorescent jackets, especially for the roads without pavements. Since starting in 1980, these sets of walks have continued to be a popular ecumenical event. They are a positive witness of our Christianity to the outside world. Walking and talking with others is also an excellent way of getting to get to know Christians in other churches better. Try and support them either by walking or by meeting and greeting the walkers along the routes or at either end (arrival times are generally about an hour after each advertised start). Pentecost Praise Sunday 20 th May at 3PM in Egremont Market Hall. Revd. Becky Gibbs of St Bees Priory will lead this service. Douglas McDevitte

7 The time has come again to think about a pilgrimage and holiday to the Oberammergau Passion Play and time in Austria, several people have expressed interest in knowing more about it. We ve therefore organised a get together in Keswick Methodist Church on Saturday, 17 February 2018, 10am-12 noon. Coffee and nibbles will be available. The Passion Play takes place only once every ten years, a tradition stretching back over 386 years. The season runs May to September and we re hoping to go mid August Oberammergau is unique in its conception, setting and sheer scale of production. It s a vast undertaking involving more than 2,000 villagers, a full orchestra and a vast open-air stage, set against the spectacular backdrop of the Bavarian mountains. The visually spectacular, day-long performance commemorates the last week in the life of Christ and, although performed in German, speaks to all nations and is made all the more dramatic by a large choir and orchestra performing the music specially composed for the play by a local teacher 200 years ago. Final details of costs and dates will be available soon. Because of its popularity there s always a very high level of demand for tickets to see the Passion Play and they re not cheap! However, this is a special occasion, that can only be taken every ten years and you have two years to pay for it! If you re interested in finding out more about this holiday (no commitment at this stage), please have a word with David or Anne. Tel: or keswickoberammergau2020@gmail.com. David & Anne Hasson, Keswick Highlights of Church Council I missed the meeting on 23 January, so these highlights are based on the minutes. Rev Richard Teal had written to us enthusing about the possibility of Egremont Methodist Church employing someone to bring pioneering ideas to the church. The Church Council decided that the Mission Meeting should take this forward and bring their findings to a future Church Council. It was agreed that our Share Offer to the Whitehaven Circuit should remain at 23,000 for the coming financial year. Concern was expressed that our share is disproportionately large compared to other churches in the Circuit. A Saturday Chataway coffee morning run by Copeland MP Trudy Harrison and members of Copeland council, will be held in our premises on 7 th July. Alec Bounds If all the people who slept during sermons were laid end to end (see next page)

8 Poster submitted by Maureen Pyke: (from page 7) they would be much more comfortable. Alan Moore via Doug McDevitte

9 THANKS I would like to pay tribute to all the Lay Preachers in our circuit who do such a brilliant job. Throughout Methodism our churches on many occasions are served by Lay Preachers, without whom the churches could not function. Indeed in our own congregation we have five active Lay Preachers who give of their time preaching in our Circuit churches. Because of this we have a variety of worship which I am sure we all appreciate. The amount of time and effort that must go into the planning and preparation of every service must be considerable - the prayers, readings, sermon and choosing the appropriate hymns. I, and I am sure we all are, grateful to all our Lay Preachers and ask that we remember them in our prayers with thanks. While on the subject of thanks, I would like to mention all in our congregation who play an active part in the running and administration of the Church. There are many 'behind the scenes' workers, many of whom take on several tasks to enable the smooth running of the Church. Things do not 'just happen', there is somebody behind the 'happening' which involves commitment and time. There are many people involved, too numerous to name, but I feel I must say a big thank you to Katie and Alistair who carry out many maintenance jobs on the building, saving the Church so much money because we do not have to employ outside workers. I wish to acknowledge with thanks the lives of Alan Catherall and Elsie Blackburn, both long-term and faithful members of our church. Alan died on 12 September and his funeral was at the Crematorium on 22 September. In his latter years he enjoyed the company and fellowship at the Saturday coffee mornings. sharing conversation with the many regular attenders. Elsie died on the 28th November and her funeral was held in our church on 6 December. She attended church regularly, with her daughter Ann, until ill-health prevented her from doing so. Donations in memory of Elsie amounted to , and it was her wish that this money should be donated to our church. We are very grateful for this donation. Nan Pryde conducted both funeral services as she had known personally both Alan and Elsie. We pray for both families in their loss. Margaret Hargreaves From the Editor Thank you to all those who have submitted articles for this edition. Articles do not necessarily represent the official views of Egremont Methodist Church. The deadline for the next newsletter is Sunday 13 May, but feel free to give me an article any time before then. My address is boundsuk@gmail.com. Alec Bounds

10 Regular events Egremont Methodist Church Dates Every Sunday, 11am: Sunday service at The Meeting Place. The preacher for each service is given on the Plan in Link, the Circuit Newsletter. Thursdays during school term time, 7-30pm: Open House Fellowship at Emmaus, Wodow Rd, Thornhill. Includes worship, discussion of text in the Bible, refreshments, prayer. Phone Alec or Gillian Bounds, Saturdays, 10am 12 noon, Coffee Morning at The Meeting Place. The Meeting Place is used by several community groups during the week see the poster on the Information board in the Meeting Place. Other church events in March, April and May Thursday 1 March, 11-30am-1pm, Lent Soup Lunch at The Meeting Place. Thursday 8 March, 11-30am-1pm, Lent Soup Lunch at The Meeting Place. Thursday 8 March, 7-30pm, MOVING MOUNTAINS Meet the Team at The Meeting Place. Saturday 10 March, 10am-12noon, MOVING MOUNTAINS Quiz the Clergy at The Meeting Place. Saturday 10 March, 2pm-4pm, MOVING MOUNTAINS Mothering Sunday Crafts at The Meeting Place. Saturday 10 March, 7pm, MOVING MOUNTAINS Exploring Mountains at The Meeting Place. Sunday 11 March, 11am, MOVING MOUNTAINS Morning Worship at The Meeting Place. Thursday 15 March, 11-30am-1pm, Lent Soup Lunch at The Meeting Place. Thursday 22 March, 11-30am-1pm, Lent Soup Lunch at The Meeting Place. Sunday 25 March, 3pm, Walk with the Cross, St Bees Priory round village to St Bees Methodist. Monday 26 March, 5-30pm, Walk with the Cross, St Bees Methodist to St John s Bigrigg. Tuesday 27 March, 5-30pm, Walk with the Cross, St John s Bigrigg to Emmanuel, Moor Row. Wednesday 28 March, 5:30pm, Walk with the Cross, Emmanuel, Moor Row to The Meeting Place. Thursday 29 March, 7pm, Maundy Thursday Service at St Bees Methodist. Good Friday, 30 March, 12 noon, Good Friday Service at The Meeting Place. Good Friday, 30 March, 5-30pm, Walk with the Cross, Egremont Methodist round town to Egremont Parish Church. Sunday 1 April, 11am, Easter Sunday Service at The Meeting Place. Sunday 13 May, Deadline for articles for the next newsletter. Saturday 19 May, 2pm, Afternoon Tea (Circuit Fundraising Event) at Cleator Moor. Sunday 20 May, 3pm, Pentecost Praise in Egremont Market Hall.