Update: we raised around £1500!! Well done and thank you to all who helped make they day so successful.
Today, Saturday, 21st November from 10am to 3pm in the Parish Centre.
Lots of things to buy, join in with and eat and drink. Get yourself prepared for Christmas early.
The Lord Mayor of Leeds will judge the organisation noticeboard competition between 1pm and 1.30pm.
Transformational Plans are a Diocese initiative for parishes to consider their present position in the parish and where they want to be over the next five years. The process is very detailed. The PCC had to do audits of all organisations (using SWOT analyses), a community audit which considers the areas the church is in, and we chose to hold a Parish Vision afternoon which people attended to discuss aspects of the parish and church.
The Transformation Plan is in five areas; Prayer and spirituality, Pastoral care, Worship, Evangelism and Community service. The Wakefield Ministry Scheme Core Group members gathered the information from organisation audits and decided upon the areas which came up as the biggest areas to develop.
The areas which make up St Mary’s Transformational Plan are as follows, and progress will be reported in church and the web site:
1. Create a photo board – we want those who visit church to find it easy as possible to get to know people, and be aware of those with whom they wish to speak.
2. Improve communication – we want to be aware of the concerns of our community and to ensure that the community is aware of what St Mary’s offers.
3. Engage with young families and children – we believe that a church where children are not visible and their voices are not heard is poorer for it. We want to foster links, making young families aware of the good news. We aim to have a special focussed weekend to engage with children in Summer 2010.
4. A more flexible building – we want to explore how the church building can be a more effective community space to serve a wider range of people and reflect awareness of differing needs, whilst retaining traditional worship space.
5. Offer community welcome – we want to work with local businesses to make newcomers to our area aware of what this community has on offer, producing a Welcome pack to be given to those who move into the parish.
Do you often use Amazon for online purchases? If so then for no extra cost to yourself, you can help St Mary’s!
By going into Amazon using the search box on the right-hand side of our site, any purchases you make will give St Mary’s a ‘referral fee’. The fee varies but is around 10%.
So, when you’re doing your shopping through Amazon, just do an extra couple of clicks and go through the St Mary’s web site!
The £20000 has been raised in the short time the sample organ was in church. The Faculty to get permission from the Diocese (like an advanced planning permission) has been completed and will be considered next week.
We hope that the Faculty will go through smoothly and the order placed as soon as we can.
Once again, many thanks to all involved in raising the money.
This is a photograph of the organ we had as a sample. Our organ will be roughly the same but with some slight adjustments to the stops.
Adding flowers to the Easter cross
Easter Cross after all the congregation had added a flower
Alleluia - He is risen!! This banner was created at the childrens' activity morning just before Easter
Welcoming the newly baptised
Easter dance
Roman guards, telling of their surprise at losing a body!!
Easter Garden, situated within the altar
Going home for a slap-up Easter lunch!