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