Nov 12th 2020
Dialstone Lane NewsChristmas Greetings We will be having the usual Christmas Greetings this year, where you will be able to send your greetings to your friends at Church instead of sending Christmas cards, for a donation to Church funds. Greetings should be sent to Pat by email, phone (456 5314), or post, no later than the end of November, and your donation sent by post with your message, or can be collected by Gill, Catriona or Susan C. Food Bank I have just received an e-mail from the foodbank asking if our congregation can assist by doing the reverse advent as we have in previous years. You can deliver directly to the foodbank or to the homes of the Bryants or Stokers or leave at church. Dave will be doing a regular trip to the foodbank. The food bank is very grateful for all gifts and this week is particularly in need of: The collection points were set out in the last newsletter and Dave proposes to take goods on a weekly basis. Thanks. We are Open for Prayer at Church Attached to this newsletter is a copy (click here to open) of the prayer sheet provided when the Church sanctuary was open for independent prayer on 10th November. We thought that it might be appreciated by some people who were unable to come. Toys and Gifts for Wood Street and Children’s Services You are again welcome to bring any gifts you may have for our Wood Street Mission/Children’s Services appeal when the Church is open for prayer on Tuesday 17th November. This will be the last opportunity to give to these causes as the organisations will be picking up the collections shortly afterwards. Lavender Bags Sadly, we have no Christmas Fair this year at Dialstone, but the lavender has continued growing and so I have made some lavender bags, as have been sold at previous years at the fair. They are available for a minimum donation of £1 each. This will be in aid of Church funds. Please let me know if you want to buy any and we can arrange the practicalities. Knitted Christmas Decorations/Stocking Fillers Sheila Hulme and her group of knitters have been busy and have knitted angels, clowns, penguins, Father Christmas and choir boys for you to buy at £1 in aid of Church funds. They are available in the foyer at Church when it is open for independent prayer. Alternatively, you could contact Sheila at home and arrange to pick some up from her there. She would be particularly pleased to hear from you if you have some other outlet you could take them to for sale. Additionally, if you have any clean duvets or pillows that you are disposing of, she would be keen to hear from you as she can use the inner wadding as the stuffing for the knitted items. St George’s Christmas Tree Festival Unfortunately, the current lock down means that St George’s have taken the decision not to hold their Christmas Tree Festival this year. While they’d wondered about postponing it by a week, they felt it would allow too little time to set up the infrastructure in the church that is required – wiring everywhere and tables, boards, etc. However, they are still planning an online version, using photos from previous years’ trees and backed with the St George’s choir singing carols. They might also include some trees which were planned for this year if they can be put up elsewhere and add clips of people talking about their tree and the organisation it represents. So, I am still contemplating a tree to highlight the products of traders who come regularly to the Stockport Fair Trade Group’s Christmas Festival. Christmas Angels Angels can be dropped off at St. Mary’s during the opening times of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 11.30-12.30. If you can’t make it at these times, please contact Marie and where possible we will arrange to collect (07780 964365) I have messaged St Mary’s and they are happy to take angels made to any pattern so long as they are made robust enough to withstand the weather for a while. So no paper doilies! Please contact Catriona for patterns Traidcraft Catalogues are still available in Church or directly from me (I’m happy to deliver). I’m afraid some things are selling out fast, though I do belong to a Traidcraft Traders Swapshop which sometimes enables me to get what’s no longer available from the warehouse. I have a wide range of Christmas cards, Advent calendars, special biscuits, chocolate goodies including chocolate coins, as well as tree decorations galore. Amongst the foods, I have nuts, dried fruit including Medjoul dates, rice, marmalade, some sugars and fudge and various teas, coffees and cocoa. In addition, I have some crafts from this year’s and previous years’ catalogues (some good reductions in price for these “older” items), including a fabulous glass drink cooler with ice holder, magazine rack, slate slab, wooden picture frame, and as ever the little “jewelled” boxes, notebooks, gardening gloves and socks. If you want to see anything – or a range of things – so you can make a choice do let me know. Zoom coffee/tea time By the time you receive this newsletter we will have held the first of our zoom coffee mornings of this lockdown period. As it was such lovely weather this morning when it would have been nice to be outside, we decided to alternate coffee mornings and afternoon teas, hopefully giving more people a chance to join us. The format will be much the same. A few simple quiz questions, a chat all together and in break out rooms with fewer people, come together for more general chat and then a rousing hymn to round it off. All are welcome. Thursday 26th November 11.00am Race for Life 2020 for Cancer Research A really big “Thank You” to everyone who supported me in this year’s Race for Life, held at Hadfield on the Longdendale Trail. I raised an amazing £510 thanks to churchgoers, friends and family. The final total raised by the ladies at The Toning Tables Gym was £738. It was great to be able to support such a great charity. Many thanks. Suzie (Pictures taken at start of race and my medal)
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