Month: September 2014

This year’s Christmas Market will be held in the hall on Saturday 22 November from 11.30 am to 3.30 pm.  The changes introduced last year proved successful, so we will follow the same pattern this year.  Our famous jams, preserves, home baking and tablet will be on sale as usual, together with hand-made craft items and plants.  There will be games and competitions with prizes and a much-increased version of the ever-popular lucky numbers stall.  And again, tea, coffee, cakes, biscuits and ploughman’s lunches will be available throughout the day to make sure no-one goes hungry.

Please put the date in your diary and come along to support this event in the church calendar.  In due course we will be looking for people to help man the stalls, serve refreshments, contribute baking for the cake stall and the teas, hand out fliers in Covent Garden Piazza and any other tasks that need to be done.  And if you have any other ideas for the Market, please speak to the Church Secretary.

The Swiss Church in Endell Street is holding afternoon prayers every Friday at 1.15 pm.  All are welcome.

The Minister will be holding a class of enquiry for anyone interested in joining the church on a Saturday in the next couple of months.  If you would like to participate in the class, please give your name to the Minister or the Church Secretary.

A Memorial Service for Marilyn Ross, former elder and Sunday School Co-ordinator who died on 17 July, will be held at 11.30 am on Saturday 11 October in Southlands College Chapel, 80 Roehampton Lane, SW15 5SL.

An Afternoon with Simon Callow talking about ‘The Man Jesus’.  This free event will take place at 2.30 pm at St James’s Church Piccadilly, on Monday 6 October.   Further details are available on the St James’s Church website.

Our Harvest Festival service will be held on Sunday 12 October and will take the form of all-age worship.  This year we are asking members of the congregation to bring gifts of food or money to support the Westminster Food Bank, based at Westminster Chapel.

The food bank provides three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced (non-perishable) food to residents of Westminster who are experiencing financial crisis through a voucher scheme.  This is done in partnership with front-line care professionals who identify people in need and give vouchers.  People can also be referred on to other agencies where appropriate.

The Westminster Food Bank is part of a nationwide network of food banks overseen and supported by the Trussell Trust, which provides support and training.  Food is donated by churches and local people (schools, businesses, as well as individuals).  It is stored at the Chapel and then sorted and packed in food packs by volunteers.

The Food Bank publishes a list of items which are acceptable, which can be downloaded from https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.westminsterchapel.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F10%2FSingle-shopping-list.docx.  They ask that items should be unopened and undamaged and have a “best before” date at least three months away.

We hope that you will feel able to support this service to those who live in Westminster and find themselves in crisis.  It is sadly becoming increasingly necessary.

The English première of the 1948 play by Robert McLellan, at the Finborough Theatre, above the Finborough Arms, 118 Finborough Road, SW10 9ED, from 2 – 27 September, to coincide with the Scottish Independence Referendum.  For further details are available on the Finborough Theatre website.