Ashby and Coalville Methodist Circuit

Hall Lane Newsletter Spring 2007
Issue 13

LETTER FROM SISTER BARBARA CROCKETT

Dear friends

Sister Barbara What did Easter mean to you? Was it filled with 2, 3 or 4 services which took you from the celebration of Palm Sunday to the pain of God incarnate dying on the cross and rising again - or was it simply a time to look forward to a week-end off with family and friends - or something in between?

The six weeks before Easter - Lent, is a time that most people, even those who don’t go to church - remember to give up something - chocolate or biscuits or even something more worthwhile. What about the six weeks following Easter? The week after Easter usually sees life back to normal at least until Pentecost when the Church celebrates it’s birthday.

Has Easter changed your life this year? Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead to break the bonds of death once and for all. This was and is a pure act of grace on the part of a loving God who wants all people to know him and to follow him. To ensure this happened, he suffered an excruciating death on the cross for humanity and then overcame that death so we might live.

Whilst we can never repay Christ for his ultimate sacrifice we are called to follow Jesus by taking up our own cross and allowing His grace to transform our lives in a ministry of love and compassion for those in need in our world.

This is course is easier said than done - not least by the writer of this page. However, if Easter is to be something other than a holiday, if Easter is really about Christ’s love and compassion for you and me - we have to respond to Jesus’ challenge to each of us.

Jesus left us with 2 great commandments. ‘Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength and love your neighbour as yourself.’

This Easter let each of us accept that commission and do all we can to love God through Jesus and love our neighbour - whether they be next door, in the next street, town, country or across the world. And the way to start is by asking in every situation WWJD - What Would Jesus Do - and then going and doing it.

Yours in Christ
Sister Barbara

Retired Fellowship

The Retired Fellowship group recently spent the afternoon talking about Easter myths and legends such as the origin of the Easter Egg, the Hot Cross Bun and the actual name of Easter. The way the date for the festival is decided was mentioned and the eccentricities of both the Orthodox and Western churches were discussed. For a change this year the two churches coincided which is fairly rare.

The Retired Peoples’ Group has regular outings - usually once a month - for either lunch or afternoon tea.

All retired people are very welcome on Tuesday afternoons at 2pm at Hall Lane Methodist Church. Phone 834761 to make sure the group is meeting, as a trip out may be scheduled.

New Bible Study Group

Bible A new weekly house group has started on Tuesday evenings and repeated the following Monday evening. Depending on numbers they will either take place at the Manse or in the Richardson Room. Please let Sister Barbara know if you would like to come or just turn up at 7.30pm Tel: 01530 832411

Tony Jasper’s ‘Charles Wesley 1707’

A play is planned to take place at Hall Lane in June. It will show the life of Charles Wesley and will be performed by the Jasperian Theatre Company. The Stage publication describes this new version of the play as ‘spirited’ and ‘vivid’ so it promises to be a good evening of entertainment.

It will be played for the Circuit on Friday 8th June, starting at 7.30pm. Hall Lane’s ticket allocation has been sold but more may become available. Let Allison know if you would like her to request a ticket for you.

Anyone for Tea?

Catherine Withington, Lesley Bennett, Maureen Godfrey and Dorothy Wintrip In readiness for the beginning of the lunch club due to start shortly at Hall Lane, five lades attended a food hygiene course and all passed the exam that followed.

Here is Catherine Withington, Lesley Bennett, Maureen Godfrey and Dorothy Wintrip concentrating on the video that formed part of the course.

Easter Celebrations

A number of Easter services took place within the Circuit over the Easter season. Members of Hall Lane attended several that took place.

A Circuit Maunday Thursday service took place at Oakthorpe, followed by a Good Friday service in the morning at Hall Lane and another meditative service at Whitwick in the evening culminating with an Easter Sunday service at Hall Lane led by Rev John Withington celebrating the risen Christ!

Thanks for all the contributions towards the flowers for Easter Sunday.

Sunday Club

If the proposed Sunday Club is to be viable, we will need lots of volunteers to go on a rota to both organise sessions and to assist and supervise.

In order to help, you will need to complete safeguarding forms, available from Barbara. Please volunteer to ensure this Club can be set up. The more volunteers we have, the less onerous it will be on those taking part.

Many thanks. Allison

Coffee Morning

On Saturday, 17th March, a coffee morning was held at Hall Lane in aid of the BBC Radio Leicester’s Ruby Rainbow Appeal.

A good attendance, together with generous donations and sales of wrist bands, added up to a total of over £500.

Dave Andrews from the radio station came along to an evening with our Ladies Fellowship to collect the cheque.

Lunch Club

The lunch club will be launched on Thursday 7th June. We will be serving soup, jacket potatoes and salads to start with. Come along between 12.30pm and 1.30pm. A two course meal will cost £3.50 and will include tea or coffee.

Everyone is welcome to come along - either to help or to have lunch. Please let us know if you’re coming to help us cater for the right numbers - especially at the beginning.

If you know of anyone that may enjoy coming along for some company and a chat, please give them a leaflet and encourage them to pop in.

Line Dance

Line Dancers A line dance took place in aid of the charity, Cancer Backup, on Friday 23rd February at Hall Lane. The church was full to the brim with tickets, once again, selling out as soon as they went on sale.

Pam Goodenough led the dancing, with the evening finishing with a healthy supper of salad to complete the evening.

Do you have a Wedding to go to?

If you have a special occasion to go to attend this summer, do you need a hat? We have a range of hats, in all colours and styles, available at very reasonable prices. All proceeds will go toward the Kitchen Fund to help kit out our new kitchen when it arrives.

See Allison for details or wait for the Summer Fair where they’ll be on display.

New Member Welcomed

Following a membership course led by Sister Barbara, Marcus Garratt decided to transfer his membership from the catholic church into Hall Lane. To make the occasion official, Marcus took part in a service at Hall Lane on Sunday 4th March and was presented with a bible.

Congratulations!

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Methodist Church, or have any questions about what it’s all about, please have a chat with Barbara.

At the same service, Barbara brought her visitors and their children along. The children took part in the service and danced in the aisles.

Easter People 2007

The twentieth and final Easter People was held at Blackpool in April and a group from Hall Lane Methodist Church attended the event once again. Several of the group attended the very first Easter People in 1988 at Camber Sands in Sussex.

The Share Jesus International organization, led by Rob Frost and his team, had put together a busy and varied programme for the week including celebrations, seminars, bible studies and entertainment. It was difficult to fit everything in each day and we often had to split up to take advantage of everything on offer.

Because there were approximately 10,000 people attending this year’s Easter People, each event was divided into several venues, each with a different approach to the same theme. It was good to be reminded that we are part of such a large body of people.

There were groups for children, young teenagers, young people, and then the rest of us! The bible study and celebrations were split into different styles such as contemporary, family and traditional sessions. The overall theme for the week was Amazing Grace, and over the week we both studied and celebrated the true meaning of what God’s grace means for us.

A number of speakers kept us informed, intrigued and entertained with their different styles of worship.

In the afternoons there were seminars and debates covering such subjects as Fresh Expressions, Do Prisons Work? What is Compassion? All sessions were always oversubscribed and so queuing became part of the week.

Easter People The evening celebrations each had a worship band and worship leader and often had someone giving their testimony including Fiona Castle (wife of the late Roy Castle).

In between there were performances from Puppets for Jesus, The Methodist Youth Brass Band and Simeon Wood, musician. There were exhibitions to explore and book and music stalls to peruse. There were workshops on drama and dance all led by Christian groups from around the country.

To finish each day ‘fringe’ events were available, starting at 9.45pm and finishing at 11.15pm! These ranged from Adrian Plass, author of many amusing books; the MAYC Choir and Orchestra, Tim Vine, comedian; to the performance of Cargo, Paul Field’s latest musical based on the abolition of slavery.

Of course there were cooked breakfasts and 3 course evening meals, cream cakes for lunch and shopping in a very conveniently positioned Marks and Spencer.

It was good to spend time with each other and to speak to people from other churches with new ideas and stories to tell. We made a new friend called ‘Rachel’ who you may meet in the next few months. Mobile phones were well used to help us meet up with each other after we’d split up to take part in different activities.

It was difficult to fit everything in during the day and to decide what to take part in and what to miss. It was an exhausting but exhilarating week – one which we’ll never forget.

For more photographs - see the notice board in the Richardson Room.

Barn Dance

Barn Dance 2007 A barn dance was organised to help raise more funds for Cancer Backup.

Eddie Henderson called the instructions to those of us energetic enough to take part. By the end of the evening everyone had spoken to each person in the room as we danced and changed partners. It was a good night of fellowship and fun and was enjoyed by everyone who came along!