A Plethora Of Plagues

All the groups were given a length of paper ‘banqueting roll’ and a title – and had to interpret this in their own way, to illustrate the plagues. Here they are, in no particular order

 

I just love the detail in some of these banners.

The hailstones are polystyrene packing pellets.

The lovely frogs and lily pads were made by six year olds!

Some of the flies have wings made of acetate sheet.

The five year olds decorated plates to look like their own faces- then gave themselves lots of red spots!

I love the gnats swarming over the pyramids.

In order not to frighten the younger children, the Task Force opted for a front door with blood over the lintel to represent ‘Death Of The Firstborn’

The dead cattle are lying on fields of ‘grass’ made with green painted matchsticks. The locusts are amazingly detailed – I should have taken a close up. The river-into-blood looks suspiciously like a bespattered French tricolor to me!

These will all be moved up into the Chapel for Sunday’s service. Bob has been working hard producing a video about the plagues to show then. And soon it will all be over for another year…

God said to Moses: "Go to Pharaoh. I've made him stubborn, him and his servants, so that I can force him to look at these signs and so you'll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you'll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you'll all know that I am God." …Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God. Can't you see that Egypt is on its last legs?" [from Exodus 10 – The Message]

One plague is missing –can you work out which ? [when I took these pictures on Thursday the paint was wet and it had not been hung up]

I Spy A Spy

Thursday is Dress-Up Day, and Open Evening & BBQ. So we had a lot of suspicious looking characters queuing up outside this morning…

Each group selected the two best spies in their group, and from that line up we selected the two winners.

It was quite clear from the costumes that everybody feels that spies must wear dark glasses all the time!

After the session, the group leaders arranged all the craft work in some superb displays. Bob and I went to buy BBQ supplies, and when we got back to the church, I took lots of photos

I think the children’s craft work is fantastic – and I am always so impressed by the way that the staff team helps each child to produce such great work – and the way they display it for the Open Evening.

It has been raining all afternoon – trusting it will ease up a little before 7pm. Bob is outside cleaning our BBQ ready to wheel it round to church.[It’s OK, he has changed out of his suit and bowtie]

An Award Well Deserved

I knew very little about this charity until I did my run for them [was that really only three weeks ago?!]

But I am happy to say that I have just discovered that they have recently been named as the 'Best Fundraising Organisation to Work For' by the Institute of Fundraising Awards.

When I started asking for sponsorship for my run, Steph suggested that I set up a page with JustGiving. JG then alerted PCC – and I had a really lovely email from them, thanking me for doing this fundraising. Over the past few weeks, the emails have continued – just before the run to encourage me, and again afterwards, thanking me. PCC also keep in touch with Desford Striders, so they knew all about how the run had gone.

The IFA award citation states

All staff have a copy of the UNITED values that stand for Understanding, Needed, Inspired, Trustworthy, Expert and Dedicated, and there is a UNITED award for the staff member who has best displayed the values over the last month. Many staff have a personal link to the cause and everyone sits in on the helpline at least once a year to connect with the cause via calls to the nurses. The charity has a real commitment to flexible working at all times and staff turnover is very low. Pay is benchmarked and PCC aims to be in the upper quartile. The organisation-wide plan filters down to fundraising specific plans, team targets and individual work plans so every team member can be seen to contribute to overall organisational goals. This leads to commitment from everyone and pride in successful fundraising.

Prostate Cancer Charity has generated good fundraising results, which obviously led to a sense of excitement in the team. Communication of targets and achievements is good and there is a very practical approach to failures and learning lessons from them. The charity's commitment to flexible working is laudable and its sense of shared values makes it a worthy winner of this category.

And furthermore, PCC has also just been shortlisted by Charity Times for their annual awards, in the category ‘Campaigning Team Of The year’

Well done to the team – I never expected to hear anything personally from the charity, and I was quite surprised by the genuine personal interest and support I have received from them.

And for myself, here is the icing on the cake [can I say that while I am dieting?]

It was good to feel my running had a purpose

So to Chris Carter and the others at PCC, I say, please keep up the good work, and I shall go on publicising it!

Dining With Deacons

“Angela and Bob, Keep Upright!”

Is this a storage instruction – or a piece of spiritual guidance?

I said in my post on Sunday that Holiday Bible Club brings both burdens and blessings. I have to tell you, friends, that one of the greatest blessings is that for the whole of this exceedingly busy week, is that Bob and I have our main meals provided for us each day. The deacons [and their spouses] organise a week’s worth of meals for us, to keep in fridge or freezer, so that when we get home from church each day, exhausted, and too tired to think straight, there is something ready prepared to put in the oven or microwave.

And it is always such lovely food! I am especially touched that this year, people have taken our attempts at dieting on board, and made sure we have lots of fruit and veg in our menus. The above bag contains a Tupperware box of delicious looking fresh fruit salad.

I am not going to list the all other meals – you would be drooling! Suffice it to say that there is an amazing variety of home cooked fare and I cannot thank my dear friends enough for this act of thoughtfulness. They sort it out faithfully every summer – and it makes such a difference. Without it, I am afraid we’d be lazily snacking on toast or living on fat-laden takeaways – and then resorting to Gaviscon because of our midnight indigestion.

Bob and I feel really blessed to belong to a fellowship which is so consistent in showing such love and care to the Pastor and his family. We are truly grateful - Matthew 25:40

Snakes Alive! Yet Another Tutorial

You remember all those milk bottle tops?

Well today we used them for our Holiday Bible Club Craft. The bible story was about Moses and Aaron speaking to Pharaoh – and Aaron’s staff turned into a snake [Exodus 7]

For each child you will need the following

• a handful of bottle tops [around 30-40 each]
• a champagne cork
• half a wine bottle cork
• half a shoelace
• a pair of ‘goggle eyes’

The tops and corks were donated by our congregation – and the shoelaces were on cards of twelve pairs from the PoundShop [DollarStore] The eyes came from The Works, 99p a pack.

Beforehand, ask someone to slice the wine corks in half and drill them, and also drill the champagne corks and bottle tops. Then paint all corks green. Cut laces in half [ours ended up 35-45cm long] and make a firm double knot on the cut end.

Thread the aglet** through the champagne cork [easiest way is to use a bent pipecleaner like a traditional needle threader] Now let the children thread on their bottle tops, until there is about 6cm of lace left. Thread on the half-cork. Make a double knot. Stick on the eyes, draw a mouth on the champagne cork.

Voila! a snake

This is my ‘Demo-Snake’ – but the children have really loved making their this morning – even the teenagers wanted to do them!

This craft ticks all my boxes for Holiday Club

1. The materials were free/incredibly cheap [less than 10p per child] and people are pleased to help collect them for you
2. There wasn’t too much skill needed to make a snake
3. But there was scope for individuality in terms of arrangement of coloured tops, and placement of eyes etc.
4. For younger children it is good for counting, sorting and hand-eye co-ordination [sorry – that’s all ‘teacher speak’!]
5. It can be used for loads of different Bible stories e.g. Creation, Adam&Eve, Noah’s ark, Aaron’s rod [as today] Moses “snake on a stick” [Numbers 21] Paul and the viper [Acts 28]

Having just typed it, I am quite taken with the idea of “Snake On a Stick” – it sounds like a bizarre form of street food!

**Aglet is the proper name for the stiffened end of a shoelace.

so now you know!

Twinkles and TeaPigs

I have blogged before about Cherry Tree Gifts, a nearby shop run by my friend Sarah [they now have a website here]

Her cousin Anne has just opened a new haberdashery, called “Twinkles” in the same Shopping Parade. I called in to have a look yesterday afternoon. Not all the stock has arrived yet, and the shop sign has yet to go up – but there was still a fair amount of stuff to look at…

They have sewing notions, crafty bits and bobs, books and patterns, knitting wools, crochet supplies and scrapbooking goods …with lots more yet to come. I shall check them out again after the holiday.

I went across to Cherry Tree Gifts to sit down and have a cuppa

Sarah was busily arranging her new jars along the shelf. “I have taken pictures in Twinkles to put on my blog” I said. “Mention I have Teapigs now” said Sarah. So I have!

I just wanted a refreshing pot of tea, so opted for “English Breakfast” – but Sarah carries the full range. Not only that, but it comes in a china pot, which pours properly [grumpy old woman that I am, I hate those dribbly stainless steel jobbies!]

The Teapigs' Ethical Scheme was set up in order to make a difference to the tea growing regions and communities they buy from. At the same time it also offers a personal insight into life on tea estates. Many people are surprised to hear that Rwanda produces some of the finest black teas known to tea tasters. Teas from the Pfunda tea estate, based in the lush green hills of Rwanda make up 40% of Teapigs English Breakfast Tea. The Noel Orphanage, home to 600 children, over the road from the tea estate. The tea estate provides annual support to the orphanage and Teapigs is contributing to the ongoing financial requirements.

Sadly, Rwanda is more likely to be remembered for a history that saw an estimated 800,000 people lose their lives and left many thousands of children orphaned than for its fine tea. I’m glad this project is helping those children.

And thanks Sarah, for the tea!

Mission: Rescue Day Two

Agent B here – anybody know what’s happening?

Well, it seems everyone is working hard with their plaques

With the possible exception of our Youth Worker!

“My Mummy would not recognise me like this!”

A Very British Topic

One hundred and fifty years ago today, the Times published the first ‘weather forecast’. It was prepared by Admiral Robert Fitzroy, who had been Darwin’s Captain on The Beagle. And it was actually accurate! The BBC has an informative item about the forecasts here

Here’s Fitzroy in naval uniform. Sadly he was prone to depression – and in the end felt somehow responsible for the fact that people had begun to accept Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, and  deny that God had created the world. He committed suicide in a state of despair.

But he is remembered for his weather forecasts, and in 2002, the Meterological Office decided to rename one of the areas named in the shipping forecast ‘FitzRoy’ after him, as he was the first professional weatherman and founder of the Met Office in 1853. Finisterre - deriving from the Spanish 'finis terre', meaning the end of the earth - is also used by Spain for a different area of sea and they’d asked Britain to come up with a new name.

Fitzroy’s memorial in South Norwood bears an engraving of a naval storm cone, and some apposite verses from the book of Ecclesiastes.

[I believe a storm cone is a canvas cone hoisted on board ship to warn of high winds – perhaps Jane and Chris can confirm this for me?]

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits

I Will Say This Only Once!

Agent A appears to be in anxious supplication – possibly about whatever it is that Agent B is doing [thank you Jan for the picture!]

Years ago I ran a Holiday Club with a dear friend, who was wonderfully spiritual but could not spell. Her list of helpers for the club actually included “Prayer Worriers” – please may I be one?

Who Is This Suspicious Looking Bloke?

Why, it’s Agent B from Mission:Rescue, disguised with a false moustache!

Would you send your child to a Holiday Club run by someone who looks like this?

I have no pictures from today’s club, because I was so busy that I never even had time to take the camera out of its case! I am happy to report that everything went well, nobody got injured, the staff all worked really hard, the crafts all got created, and the children left happily at midday. [Although Agent A refuses to kiss Agent B when he is in disguise, as the ‘tache tickles too much!]

I have the right number of plaster plaques made for every child to have one tomorrow- but need to make a few spares in case of breakages. I should manage to get another half dozen done before the session.

So much to be grateful for!

Tut Tutorial

Day One of Holiday Bible Club, and our craft today  is making a King Tut mask. This should be fairly easy. I picked up some mask blanks in The Works [£5 for 3 packs – which works out at less than 9p a mask – but you could always cut them out of A4 card]

Colour them yellow – we’re using diluted poster colour and cut-up kitchen sponges for speed.[This will be done when children arrive, so they can complete them later in the morning]

Let them dry, then mark round the eyes and mouth with black felt pen. Cut lots of strips of coloured paper about 1cm wide.

Stick six strips vertically along the top, and about eight horizontally down each side of the face.

Now crease the nose, and using sellotape, overlap and stick the top and bottom of the mouth, to make the mask  3-dimensional.

This bit is fiddly!

Finally you need a ‘beard’ and a star cut from red paper. Fix these at centre top, and onto the chin.

You can put some thread or elastic across the back to hang the mask up, or possibly to wear it. But as it would have been made for a mummy, I don’t think I will be encouraging the children to wear them!

These are my prototypes.

Each group will have one, so they can see what they are aiming at!

More photos to follow…