Annual Report 2010
Pastor's Report
Secretary's Report
Ladies Fellowship ReportBible Study Report
Luncheon Club Report
Sunday Club Report
Home Mission Report
Girl's Brigade Report
B.M.S. World Mission Report
Belton & Hathern Scout Group Report
Pastor's report
Isn’t God Great! We have seen Him at work among us in wonderful ways – baptisms, new members, dedications and weddings. There have also been very sad times for us as together we have mourned the passing of family, members and friends – but always comforted in the knowledge that they have been transported to be with their Lord.
Again, God has moved His people to great acts of generosity in financial giving enabling us to not only repair and renew the fabric of the building but also to begin funds for even greater refurbishment of the premises.
We are seeing the wonderful growth of the fellowship – our numbers have increased and we are regularly seeing new faces amongst us. We have also once more experienced growth in love for each other, in Bible exploration, in prayer (praying for the soul of Shepshed) and in worship too. We have once again enjoyed a very successful Holiday Club when more than 80 children attended daily, another successful MacMillan Cancer Support coffee morning,
well attended ‘Souper Wednesdays’, men’s breakfasts that have attracted 16+ men each time, and a continuing Luncheon Club. All the while we grow, so does our involvement with Churches Together and our witness to the local community – e.g. Good Friday Witness, the Remembrance Sunday Parade & Service (over 400 attending) and the ‘Songs of Praise’ held at St. Botolphs.
May I express thanks to all who work so willingly and tirelessly to make all these things, and more, happen – from the deacons, to the worship band, leaders of organisations, clubs and groups, preachers, our building and fabric team, visitors to the sick, those whose gift is prayer or ministry, technological support, providers of clean premises, banners and flowers – the list goes on …. and some say they have no gifts! We are indeed very blessed!
God is truly blessing us in so many ways but I also believe He has yet more things to show us. That is why I am suggesting our ‘motto’ for 2011 should be:
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you … for God did not give you a spirit of timidity .. but of power” 2 Timothy 1: 6-7
Howard Ketton
Secretary’s Report
Howard, Ruth and Bob Ellett, Allan & Lee Scott, Derrick Tickner and David Spendlove constitute our Prayer/Preaching team and we do thank them for their prayers and ministry to us over the this last year. We thank our growing Music Group and the Choir for their ministry to us as we worship the Lord in song in our services. We were privileged to hear Kingsley Appiagyei (President of Baptist Union) speak to us at a Soar Valley Gospel Partnership united service held in March at our church.
In 2010 we took part in a ‘Get in the Picture’ event organised by CTIS for Christmas . A stable scene was set up in the vestibule in the hope we could persuade folk passing by to come in and have a family photo taken of them dressed up in the Nativity setting. Several of our folk had great fun taking part in this. Perhaps next year, with more time for advertising, this could be more successful.
After hearing Howard preach one Sunday on ‘Joshua & the Battle of Jericho’ it was felt right that we should walk right around Shepshed to pray for the souls of its inhabitants. A group of us did this (a distance of about 8 miles) on Sunday June 20th while those unable to walk so far had a service in church to pray too for the people of Shepshed.
We celebrated the wedding of David and Caroline Harrington who were married on October 23rd. The church was full as we all attended this lovely service and we wish David and Caroline a long and happy life together.
A smaller party (only 17) went on the Church Holiday which was spent in Norfolk. As always we had a great time together with plenty of trips out and lots of laughter and good fellowship along the way. The trips out included Sandringham, a trip on the North Norfolk Steam Railway, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, the Shire Horse Sanctuary, and the Muckleburgh Collection (tanks—especially enjoyed by Pete & Denis). The weather was mostly fine apart from some drizzle as we went on a Boat trip along the Broads; and in Sheringham Howard, Hilary, Judi and Alan T got soaked. Memories of Corfe Castle came to mind!! We do thank Pete for again driving the mini-bus for us and Hilary too as she drove their car. A full report on the holiday is on the church website which continues to grow with over 80 pages to view showing the work of the church and the social life of our fellowship. The website has been seen by many folk around the world and we even had one family visit the church after seeing the website!
The improvements to the church building are continuing apace and we are so blessed that the Lord has enabled us to do so much of the work ourselves. He has brought people into the church that have the skills that we need for the work planned. We do thank all those who have been working so hard on the improvements.
Food figures quite highly in our fellowship. Kenny Henry gave us another wonderful Easter Breakfast and the bi-monthly Men’s Breakfast has become very popular and is well attended and growing. Once a month Linda & Robbie Soetanto have been teaching a group how to cook Indonesian food. We have the monthly Luncheon Club and have refreshments after the services each week where we can get to know each other better.
Although we enjoy very much these opportunities to partake of physical food we know that we are even better fed spiritually from ‘the word’ we hear each week. We are blessed indeed in having Howard and Hilary here with us at CRBC and we thank them for all their support and encouragement to us all.
Judi Weller
Ladies Fellowship Report
Meetings have been held weekly, apart from the when the severe weather caused us to cancel. We were much saddened by the deaths of Emily Carr and Pam Spiby – but comforted by the knowledge that they are now with our Lord. Several of our members have been suffering from ill health which has prevented them from fellowshipping with us and we continue to pray for them all. We are pleased that Belle’s health has improved sufficiently for her to join us again.
We have attended various rallies through the year, had an outing to Stanton Harold in June, a party for Belle’s 90th Birthday in September, hosted the Federation’s Songs of Praise in October and met at The Manse, Kath’s home and May’s home for tea in the summer. Amidst all this activity, we didn’t have time to fit in a Christmas/New Year Party so we are having a ‘Spring Party’ after our AGM in March.
Our regular number stands at about 10-12 so we have plenty of room for more ladies to join us for fellowship and good teaching on Wednesdays at 2.45 p.m. We would love to see you!
Hilary Ketton
Bible Study Report
This all sounds very heavy but everyone of us has been lifted by the love we share in fellowship, the good humour of open discussion and the support found in each other. Every member of the house group is valued. Everyone brings with them their experiences and understanding, which set against God’s word helps us all to grow.
Our thanks go to those who open their homes to us week by week; their hospitality and generosity is really appreciated.
So we thank God for a blessed year and look forward to the next one in happy anticipation. Don’t let the opportunity of being part of this pass you by; the groups are open to all (every Tuesday 7.30pm).
House Group Leaders
Luncheon Club Report
This year we at last managed to purchase our new cooker from donations received, which is wonderful, and we are enjoying using it. The kitchen has been transformed, thanks to John Halford and Rod Hesling’s hard work, and we are almost looking forward to our next inspection by the Department of Health!
Lung Campaign, Peru Children’s Trust, Gideons, Wycliffe Bible Translators have all benefited from donations from the Luncheon Club this year. We have also again bought plants for the front of church tubs.
We were touched by the gift given to us by ‘The Clubbers’ at Christmas. Thank you for your generosity to us.
Hilary & Howard and Derrick & Eileen
Sunday Club Report
We felt during the year that it was the right time to make some changes in the Sunday School. We had had some newcomers and felt we were now in a position to split the groups.
We were pleased to welcome Glynda and Annette to share the teaching with Hilary and I, which means we can all have some Sunday mornings in the service. Also Grace and Gabrielle are helping us.
The top group X-Stream is led by Hilary or me with Gabrielle helping, we have 4 in that group. The younger ones, Bubbles, have 3 in the group and are led by Glynda or Annette. We are still using the Scripture Union material and follow the same subjects as the Church. We also decided to have a Creche. Maureen and Grace lead this with a team of helpers. They use a book called Tot Zone: Thank You God and have a Bible Theme/Story with an activity and some play.
We also decided to change the name from Sunday School to Sunday Club. We now have 10 children in the groups and it has been good to see the groups coming together and friendships forming.
We thank you for continued prayer and pray that we will continue to grow in numbers and faith as we work together to bring God’s word to the children.
Jenny Miller
Home Mission Report
The used stamps which we help to collect for 2010 totalled £4,583.78 in England and Wales, so we did our bit towards that.
Cynthia Bowley
Girl's Brigade Report
We held our Church Parade service in March when all the girls were presented with their awards. Also at this service our Seniors and Brigaders presented Creative Prayer with musical movement to Cliff Richard’s Millennium Prayer.
As I was unable to be at GB for about 2½ months, I am very grateful to Howard for taking charge up to the summer holidays and for all the support that he gave me during the months when I returned. Also thank you to Cynthia and all our helpers for all that they do.
During the year our younger girls have learned circle games, helping at home, creative prayer, thinking of others and helping the needy. Our older girls have studied Getting Creative and World need.
All of these projects included Mothers Day/Easter cards, collecting Harvest gifts and decorating 2 windows in Church with them, decorating plant pots and planting them with crocuses to give to an elderly person, making painted glass lanterns and glass vases for Christmas and collecting gifts and wrapping and packing shoe boxes for Samaritans Purse—Christmas Child Appeal.
We have 13 girls aged from 6-16 who have all been coming to GB for at least a year.
As I am due to retire in May 2012, I am hoping that someone or perhaps more than one person will feel led to come and work in Girls Brigade, if so please come and talk to me or come and see what we do.
Beverley Sutton
B.M.S. World Mission Report
During 2010 money collected for BMS amounted to £1932.00. This was collected as follows:-
|
Brought forward from2009 |
£ 15.00 |
|
Relief Fund |
£350.00 |
|
Ladies Fellowship Relief Fund |
£ 50.00 |
|
Souper Wednesdays |
£140.00 |
|
Pakistani Flood Appeal |
£700.00 |
|
Torch Box |
£ 4.85 |
|
Birthday Scheme |
£ 77.00 |
|
Church Funds |
£595.15 |
£1900.00 has been sent to HQ and we begin 2011 with a balance of £32.00.
B.M.S. have recently been able to give grants of £38,000 to Haiti, £41,000 to Pakistan, £4,500 to Zimbabwe, and £3,500 to Asia
Beverley Sutton
Belton and Hathern Scout Group Report
Membership
Membership of the group continues to be strong and currently stands at
· Beavers (6 – 8 years) – 23
· Cubs ( 8 – 10 years) – 24
· Scouts ( 10 – 14 ½ ) – 24
We have seen good retention of numbers in all areas other than the transition from Scouts to the District Explorer Group at age 14 ½ years. We do however now have 8 of our former Scouts acting as ‘Young Leaders’ within the group. This affords us the opportunity to retain them within the group whilst enabling them to gain valuable experience that they can use towards their future CV and is some cases credits towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
Leaders
Carla Osbourne has now left the group due to a combination of her expanding family (number 2 on the way) and the fact that she and her husband have moved out of the area. Beavers have been fortunate however that Claire Lavine and Sharon Horsnall have stepped into the breach and recently another parent, Wayne Brewin, has started helping out and is keen to come into uniform.
Cubs and Scout leaders continue bolstered by the new ‘Young Leaders’ that they have gained as Scouts have progressed through the group. Paul Cobbin has notified the group that he would like to stand down as Group Scout Leader when a suitable replacement can be found. Our ex GSL, Paul Smith, has been approached and asked about returning and we await his answer.
The Executive Committee have done a sterling job of taking much of the admin responsibility away from the leaders and Chris Brightman has done a really good lob of organising us and putting us on a more professional footing.
Assets
The group have purchased another two larger 5 man tents which have proven extremely useful. We are now the proud owners of a new mess tent and towards the end of the summer were able to secure enough funds to purchase a new ‘Tow a Van’ trailer which has already, and will continue to prove invaluable in moving all of the equipment needed for our camping expeditions.
Activities
It would be impossible to list all of the activities undertaken by the three different groups, however members are asked to look at the group Newsletter that is published 4 – 6 times per year and copies are always available in the coffee lounge. I would however mention the excellent turn out at the Hathern Church Remembrance Day parade with over 50 Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts, accompanied by parents. The Scouts looked particularly smart having spent the Wednesday night before learning how to sew, iron clothes, and polish shoes. Who says Scouts are not educational.
Camps
In the last year the Scouts have attended
- Scogui night hike camp (it was only minus 7).
- Back to Basics camp at Oaks in Charnwood Church Fete (have you ever cooked on a shovel over an open fire)?
- District Climbing Camp in Derbyshire (abseiling and all that scary stuff).
- Group camp at Willesley (ask the deacons they have seen the slide show).
- Summer camp in Herne Bay, Kent (One male and one female shower for the whole camp!!). This included trips to Canterbury where we visited the cathedral and were ‘punted’ down the river and our now infamous day trip to Calais.
- Backwoods Camp (make your own shelter and cook a squirrel!!).
In the coming year we have a busy schedule with all of the above camps hopefully being attended. Summer Camp is at ‘Charnwood 2011’ in Whatton Hall and will be attended by thousands of Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts from all over the world. As always, if you have any specific questions about any aspect of Scouting feel free to ask Kenny.
Kenny Henry—Assistant Scout Leader
Thursday 12 January 2012