On Sunday 6th September we were invited to Tintern Abbey for the Sung Vespers. After a pleasant journey we arrived with many others to the open air meeting. All brought their own seating, many in wheelchairs. The choir sang the hymns and Magnificat, with everyone else joining in at some time. The reading from St. Mark was read, then the Homily by the Rev'd Prebendary Norman Wallwork. This was very interesting as he told the story of the woman pouring the perfume over Jesus' head, pointing out the touching by her of His head, which, I now believe, was something no one else had done before. The service was very moving and afterwards we observed the Lady Mary of Tintern Abbey statue.
When this lovely service ended the Rector drove us into Chepstow to a lovely coffee shop where we enjoyed a drink and cakes.
Thank you Rector for a lovely afternoon in the open air and the scenic way home.

Marion Amor

To Swansea and The Mumbles the meeting Point Group headed last Tuesday 20th October. It was a wet, windy day when we left Gilfach and it was a wet, windy day when we returned.
We had a good journey to the outskirts of Swansea in spite of the rain, with everyone in high spirits and hopeful of better weather to come. However as we approached Swansea we experienced a cloud burst; it was reminiscent of being on the water chute as we drove through the surface water.
We headed to the Knab rock at the Mumbles and to the Italian restaurant Verdis which overlooks Swansea Bay. Here we had a welcome drink. Many of the group were quite content with coffee or tea, but the lovely assortment of cakes proved too much of a temptation for some, one member of our group had an early dessert of a Knickerbocker glory.
Then it was back to Swansea and the Waterfront. As it was still raining, we made a dash to the nearest hostelry, the Tug and Turbot overlooking the marina where we enjoyed a splendid lunch with good company and conversation.
By this time the rain had eased and we were able to make our way to the National Waterfront Museum without getting wet. The Museum tells the story of industry in Wales over the last three hundred years. It's a very modern building with all the latest technology and we had great fun pressing buttons and touching screens. I think everyone found something of interest to them but no one more so than Hilda Shorey who was thrilled to find a mug in a display cabinet which commemorated the opening of the Hall and Library at Troedrhiwfuwch on 1st January 1926. This is Hilda's home village.
Before departing for home we had to take a look at the Mumbles Railway tram housed in the next building. Unfortunately it was closed so we had to be content with peeping through the window.
Time to head for home. Although it had been a wet miserable day outside -in the words of Christine Ross the sun shone inside the bus with a lot of fun and laughter. It had been a great day. Thank you Rector for arranging the day and driving in such bad weather conditions.

Gaynor

Dear friends at Gelligaer,

It was wonderful to see familiar faces among the huge crowd at St.Woolos Cathedral on Saturday 27th June for the Petertide Ordination I was very nervous going in, but seeing smiling faces and hearing the good wishes helped to calm the nerves. The ordinands had been away together at Llantarnam Abbey for three days with Bishop Anthony Pierce, a real time of prayer and peace and a chance to really get to know each other well. The year at St.Michael's College was interesting and I enjoyed the study even though some of it was hard work, however I really did enjoy my time with you in the parish everyone welcomed me and made me feel a part of the team, for that I thank you. I hope that we will not lose touch and that you will continue to pray for me in my new ministry at Maesglas and Duffryn as I shall continue to pray for you. Sue'

What a wonderful evening – the church was packed – parents, councillors, community members, representatives from our other churches supporting the event. Truly a 70th anniversary of what was established as a mission church of the community.
Our thanks to so many people - to Carolyn Corbin who had the vision to see this event taking place and driving forward the establishment of her new youth choir at St Anne’s – also to Jayne Stone for all her help not only as an accompanist but all her help with the Choir – to Brian Russell, and a very big thank you to Martyn Geraint of S4C who gave up his valuable time to act as our Master of Ceremonies for the evening.
We should not forget as well our thanks to the head teachers of the schools of those taking part and of course for the children and young people both in the choir and those who performed vocally and also those on recorders – not forgetting the older group!!
A truly remarkable evening was rounded off with the excellent presentation by the choir of songs from ‘Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo’
Thank you once again for all for making this a very special evening for us all.

• Good news is the Choir continues – Contact Carolyn Corbin for details ........ and we look forward to their next production.
• The next celebration of this 70th anniversary year will be a visit by the Archbishop of Wales, on the 1st November 2009 for a whole parish service of Thanksgiving for 70 years of St Anne’s – here’s to the next 70!

Meeting Point Plus

A new venture for our Parish!!!!!   The followiong theatre trips are planned for 2009 and the closing dates for booking are given on the list in church or look at the information by clicking the link below.

Click link to view information! ........ click here!

In recent months the P.C.C has agreed to sponsor a school in Africa through the organisation Link Community Development. During the past two or three years, the Parish has assisted Link through various collections such as Harvest and the Songs of Praise evenings. The speaker at November’s meeting of the Mother’s Union will be Ioan Dyer who through Link, worked as a global teacher in Nyantonzi, Uganda and knows how important our sponsorship money is to schools in Africa.

As there is too much to write about Link and their work and how our sponsorship will help the young people, a separate leaflet has been printed. This is available from the churches.

I am sure the news has gone around about the success of the first Meeting Point group outing, with our trip to Symonds Yat. Of course the weather was fine!
We were picked up by the mini bus at our chosen pick up points and set out at a very respectable 10.30 am for the pretty drive to Symonds Yat. After a gentle stroll up to the viewing site to admire the views and to watch peregrine falcons through telescopes set up by the RSPB we drove on down to the riverside and a leisurely lunch before the boat ride up the river Wye, arguably the prettiest river in the country. We returned home a weary but happy group of people looking forward to the next outing. Thank you very much Rector for driving us on the journey there and Ian for driving back home.
Lists of visits for July, August and September are in the churches.

Sunday evening we held a Songs of Praise at St. Margaret's Church . Our organist was Mrs Maureen Pritchard and the conductor was Mr Martyn Geraint. For those of you unsure of the conductor's name, he is well known at S4C, doing programmes like planed plant and others for Welsh media. He entertained us with the authors name and date of birth of the hymns that we sang (can I say with great gusto).
It was wonderful to see so many people of other denominations attending the evening. Everyone expressed how much they had enjoyed this wonderful way to praise our Lord.
We also said our final goodbyes to Rosemary Thomas and Marion James who are leaving us for pastures new in Lancashire. All our thoughts and prayers go with them in this new adventure in their lives.
A big thank you to Maureen Pritchard for playing the organ, also to Keith Morgan from Gelligaer Church for playing the church organ for the last hymn. Thank you to Carolyn for organising the event and for Martyn Geraint conducting. We must not forget Chris for putting up the screen for us to see the words.
A lot of hard work went into this Service with such fantastic results. Everyone also enjoyed the refreshments after (those welsh cakes were moreish) courtesy of Linda Bartlett, she was up all night baking cakes. Thank you Linda, they were delicious.
Don't forget to read your "WHATS ON" take home sheets. You don't want to miss out on the fun and joy of sharing the fellowship within and outside church.

Congratulaion to Carolyn on her licensing as a lay reader. A report to follow!

On Sunday 29th June Rev. Sue Stevens, wife of our Rector, Tony, will be celebrating her first Eucharist as Priest, at St. Gwladys' Church Bargoed. This coincides with our next joint parish service and we have decided that as a Parish it would be nice if we could support Sue on this special day. We are therefore inviting all parishioners of the Parish of Gelligaer to attend St. Gwladys' Church 10am service on the Sunday and also all are invited to join us for a parish lunch at The Monnington Lodge in Blackwood after the service.

Please put this date in your diary and note that there will be no services in the Parish for that particular Sunday. Menus and further details of the lunch will be announced in the notices soon.

Thanks

David

** Inaugural Meeting at St Margaret’s – 6th May 2008 **

14 of us met (and a number of apologies) at St Margaret’s and agreed that their will be a Parish of Gelligaer Mothers Union again.

We met and after a Eucharist together we watched a Video presentation form Mothers Union showing the wide range of activities that MU is involved in throughout the world. Tony our Area Dean told us of some of the things that MU is involved in within this Diocese of Llandaff.

The combined Parish Eucharist will be held at St Anne's Church at 10.30 am. Following the services there will be a Parish Lunch at The Monnington Lodge, Gordan Road, Blackwood.

The cost of the lunch will be £15.00. Should you wish to go please give your names into yor repsective Churches as soon as possible. A non-refundable deposit of £5.00 will be required by March 15th, and the balance by the 22nd of March, in order to make the final arrangements with the Lodge.

Thank you to everyone who used the "easy fundraising" website over the Christmas period and earned the Parish much needed funds. Remember, the website can be used all year round and has a brilliant selection of shops for a variety of purposes. Don't forget Mothering Sunday and Easter are only around the corner.

Carolyn