Dialstone Lane Notices - 21st January 2021
Treasurers Appeal and Gift Day
Thanks to all who are continuing to give during this difficult time. It has made my job much easier that people have been so generous and have managed to contribute in all sorts of ways.
I thought it would be useful to remind you of the different ways you can give even though the church building is shut. You can give by standing order, post a cheque to me or if you would like me to call round and collect your cash contribution please give me a ring. My contact details are telephone 0161 419 9595 or my address is 12 Withypool Drive Stockport SK2 6DT.
The effect of closing the building has been felt much more during this financial year as we have had no Christmas Fair and very little rental income. At the present time we have spent nearly £9000 more than we have received as we still have bills such as the assessment and maintenance costs for the building. Please consider carefully and prayerfully what you are able to give to the Church in order to help keep us on a sound financial footing. If you have not increased your giving for a number of years please assess whether you can afford to increase what you can give.
This time of year around the church anniversary we normally hold our AGM and Gift Day. It is very uncertain as to whether we will be able to hold them in the normal way. I am therefore asking if people can give to Gift Day in the coming weeks please contact me or one of the stewards if you need more details on how to give whilst the building is shut.
Thank you.
Jane Hollins
Treasurer
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
We have recently been notified by the District that we must submit a return confirming that we are complying with GDPR regulations.
To this effect, I need to ask everyone to let me know what information is held about Church community members, and other Church contacts, e.g Name, address, Tel Nos, email address, etc., whether it is a paper record or in electronic form on a computer, and for what purpose that information is held.
This is to check whether this information is being held for the legitimate interest of the Church or whether the person’s consent is required, and whether it is being held securely.
If you do hold any such information please contact me as soon as possible, but not later than 6th March, so that I can decide whether we need to take any further steps to comply with GDPR, and to complete the return.
Peter
Tel: 0161 4565314 email: church@dialstonelanemethodistchurch.co.uk
Lent Acts
As we enter the season of Lent still unable to worship together at our church there are still ways that we can come together in spirit over the coming weeks.
The 40 acts challenge suggests ways of drawing closer to God and each other through prayer, bible passages and actions. It suggests ways of keeping in touch and words to help us though the pandemic. Paper copies are still available, or can be downloaded here.
The Lenten bible study, starting on zoom next Wednesday also features acts - passages from the Acts of the Apostles helping us find a fresh perspective on scripture as well as issuing a challenge to put our faith into action. The booklet to accompany this is available to download and can be followed without the need for zoom, contact one of the stewards if you need help with this.
Thirdly something for us to think about when we are eventually allowed to meet together is whether or not we as a church could support the charity Acts435.org.uk - God definately seems to be telling us that he needs our actions not just our words the core belief of this Christian help charity.
I pray that you will all hear his prompting in the coming week making this Lent a fruitful 40 days.
Susan Conlon
Lent Worship on BBC 1
Those unable to access the Church Services on Sundays may be interested to hear that the BBC 1 has 30 minute services for Lent at 11am on Sundays.
With Sympathy
Our sympathies are sent to Sarah Skitt, her mother, Judith Hardman, and members of the family, on the death of Sarah’s Father, Phil.
Many will remember Sarah who was one of our Sunday school members many years ago and played parts in D.A.T.E. shows.
Sad news
Those who attended Guides – or had daughters who did so – during the 1990’s, will be sad to learn of the death of the Guide Leader then, Christine Harm, in January this year. She had moved away to the Wirrall with her family around year 2000, so we had lost touch, but her leadership gave some of our girls wonderful memories of Guide camps, canoeing and fun. Her death was sudden and unexpected and unrelated to Covid. Our condolences go to her husband and son, Robert, and the family of Guiding.
With deep thanks
Many of you will already know that Carol Pearson’s son, Gary, died suddenly on 18th January. His funeral was on 9th February. Carol writes-
“Dear Friends,
I cannot fully express my thanks for the love and support you have given me during this difficult time, through all the flowers, cards and messages. They have given me so much strength and comfort.
I feel truly blessed and lucky to have met and made so many friends at Dialstone Lane.
I would also like to say a very special thank you to Mandy Boon who made Gary’s service so very special.
Thank you and God Bless
Love from Carol.”
Leprosy Mission “Unconditional Appeal”
As a Church, we have given to the Leprosy Mission in the past and some of you may be interested in contributing further. If you give to the “Unconditional Appeal” before 24th April this year, the Government will match your gift, doubling the amount the Leprosy Mission will receive. This special appeal is to help local people in Mozambique around the Cabo Delgado Leprosy Mission to become “changemakers”, recognising the early signs of leprosy and encouraging people to accept curative treatment before the deformities caused by longer term leprosy can develop. This helps to tackle the social stigma and rejection that a leprosy diagnosis can bring.
More details can be found on the Leprosy Mission website – unconditionalappeal.org.uk – and I have a limited number of paper pamphlets.
Donations can be sent to The Leprosy Mission, Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, PE2 5GZ,
Tel 01733 370505 or through the above website.
Catriona Stoker
Christmas Quiz
In the last newsletter we somehow managed to miss off the vital information as to the final total raised for Action for Children by the Stoker Christmas Quiz 2020. It was more than double the amount we have raised previously - £1,111 via the Just Giving page, plus a further c £200 in Gift Aid, plus some £40 in cash and cheques. Many thanks to all who contributed so generously.
Andy and Catriona.
Traidcraft – Live Fair for Lent Tuesday 9th March on Zoom.
I’m excited that as part of the work of the Circuit Eco-Task Group here in the United Stockport Circuit we have the opportunity to attend a presentation by Matt Oliver, who works for Traidcraft, introducing all sorts of ideas, products, producer stories, and facts about Fair Trade. It will highlight the fact that Lent isn’t all about giving things up but can be an opportunity to learn and try out new things – and that when people ask you whether Fair Trade makes a difference, you’ll have some answers. You need to let me know if you’d like to come so that I can give you the relevant Zoom information (details below), and also if you’d like a copy of the new Traidcraft catalogue beforehand.
In addition, I have plenty of stock in at present, so I’d love to hear from you if you’d like a Covid safe Traidcraft delivery.
Catriona Stoker, Tel 487 2010; email – cat.stoker@btinternet.com
All We Can
All We Can (the Methodist relief and development agency) host a live broadcast on Facebook and YouTube every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1:17 pm (inspired by Col 1:17 – ‘In Christ all things hold together’). You can watch these by following All We Can on Facebook or YouTube – just search for allwecanuk or visit allwecan.org.uk
Baby Baskets
Run by a dedicated team of volunteers based at Moston Methodist Church we provide baby essentials such as moses baskets, nappies, wipes, toiletries, and clothes to those in need on a referral basis.
Our team meet every Thursday morning to sort donations, give out the Moses baskets and apply for grants to ensure the continuance of the project.
You can now support us by becoming a Co-op member for just £1 and selecting our cause to raise money for us each time you spend!
To keep updated about our project please follow us on Facebook: Moston-Baby-Basket.
For more information contact Rosie by email to: Mostonyouth@yahoo.com
Digital Webinars
https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/digital-labs/digital-labs-webinars
In this series of webinars, we look at different ways your church can use digital communications to keep connected with those who attend your services and events, as well as reaching out and caring for those in the local community around you.
Each topic offers a range of webinars covering different subjects. All the webinars are free to attend and new topics are updated monthly.
Zoom Services for Dialstone Lane
Due to the Government having announced that the current closure of schools and the lockdown of the rest of the community will continue at least until 8th March, we have delayed our Leadership Team Meeting to discuss re-opening our church buildings for worship until the first week in March. We plan to continue having a morning service at 11.00am each Sunday morning until we are able to reopen.
Leaders of Services during February:
28th February – Mandy Hawkyard
7th March – Tbc
14th March – Rev Cathy Bird
Our grateful thanks to these people for being prepared to offer their services. If you would like to be involved in reading a Bible passage, leading some prayers or choosing a hymn, please let us know. If you would like to be involved in a Songs of Praise type service do get in touch. This is something which we could do on zoom when we may not be able to do it for a long time in church because of the concerns about singing spreading Covid more easily.
The signing in details for the zoom services by computer or tablet are the same as for the last couple of weeks:
https://zoom.us/j/95822401033?pwd=LzFvR1grUy8yTlV6UUdMWFU2RllsZz09
Meeting ID: 958 2240 1033 Passcode: 611059
You are very welcome to join in by phone too; please let us know a couple of days in advance and we can let you have the words to hymns, pictures and other things like prayers that you can join in with.
The phone numbers remain the same each week, and are all UK land line numbers, BUT your UK call tarriff will apply, i.e. if you have free evening & weekend calls for up to 1hour, you must hang up and redail if your call lasts for more than the hour, otherwise you wll incurr call charges.
Once you have dialled a number and connected you will be asked to enter the Meeting ID on your phone keypad, followed by hash #, then # again as you are a participant not the host, then the password followed by #. So, it’s worth having the meeting ID and password numbers ready. As has been remarked “it’s quite a bossy man giving the instructions”!
0208 080 6592 0203 481 5240 0203 901 7895 0330 088 5830
0208 080 6591 0131 460 1196 0203 481 5237
Meeting ID: 958 2240 1033 Passcode: 611059
Catriona Stoker, Co-ordinating Steward – Tel 487 2010; email cat.stoker@btinternet.com
Zoom Coffee Morning Details
Coffee mornings will continue on a fortnightly basis at 11.00 with the following log in details:
Every 2 weeks on Thursday
Feb 25, 2021 11:00 AM, March 11th, 2021 11.00am, etc
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92599444343?pwd=NGlHK0lWbjFRZVkwWGZyVVdtZFBKUT09
Meeting ID: 925 9944 4343 Passcode: 626898
Afternoon Chat & Cup of Tea
Details: Every 2 weeks on Thursdays at 4pm
Mar 4, 2021, Mar 18th, etc
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93903419254?pwd=YzE3STExNTZtdklBeHZqTDU5TkRqQT09
Meeting ID: 939 0341 9254 Passcode: 013198.
The telephone details given for the services will work for the coffee mornings and afternoon teas, using the meeting ID’s and Passcodes given appropriately.
A Special form of Poetry
We are grateful to Diane for sharing the poem below. It is in the form of a triolet, a special form of verse with repeated lines, which Diane was introduced to at the Dialstone Writers’ Group.
THE SECRET NOTEBOOK (Triolet)
My book contains secrets, she thought,
Hidden from the rest of the world:
In the little book she had bought.
My book contains secrets, she thought.
It was Shorthand she had been taught,
And few could read her notes unfurled,
My book contains secrets, she thought,
Hidden from the rest of the world.
Diane Duff