“Extra Time” in Lakeland

‘Extra Time’ Network, formerly known as 50+, enjoyed a wonderful weekend away.

“I enjoyed chatting with those I have known over many years.”

For five days at the beginning of September, forty members of the Extra Time Network stayed at Rydal Hall, the Diocesan conference centre near Ambleside.

“It fed my soul to be in such beautiful surroundings.”

“It was a joy to relax and chat with people in such beautiful surroundings”

Beautifully positioned for walking, sailing on the lake or just relaxing in nearby Grasmere, Windermere or Keswick, the centre offered a perfect place for our time together. With daily activities of different grades there was something for everyone.

“It was good to share our journeys, difficulties and differences with those of our own age group.”

We met together at the start of the day and after evening dinner to be given the challenge about using our time for God as we get older.  Bob Powley and Joanna Seabourne led these sessions.

 

“We were blessed with excellent weather and fellowship throughout the whole week.”

 

Find out more about Networks at St George’s here.

Creative Day: Oct/13

“We have a creator God, who made us to be creative and for some time we have been exploring how we can use the arts in our worship.” Sue

On Saturday 19th October, 50+ Network gathered together some of our church members to share their skills by leading creative workshops.  The day was about sharing life and sharing skills and enjoying fellowship over activities such as; painting, lace making, pyrography, card making, electronics, calligraphy, jewellery making, knitting, sewing and creative writing. They also shared lunch together and the day was enjoyed by people from all parts of the church. Sue Bishop, one of the organisers shares some reflections with us:

“It was great to explore our creativity, to meet new people and to engage in good conversations.” Sue

We have a creator God, who made us to be creative and for some time we have been exploring how we can use the arts in our worship. Two years ago we held an art exhibition where members of the congregation exhibited their art and craft work and it was clear that we had a pool of talented people. Two things grew from this: firstly, a steering group to oversee visual art at Christmas and Easter (eg. the painting, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” at Christmas, the graffiti wall at Easter and the flames at Pentecost – all which help us to worship). The second, was the idea of organising an event where people could share their skills and the first Creative Day was born.

“Being creative together breaks down all sorts of barriers and encourages inter generational understanding and the building up of the Church as family.” Sue

Providing lunch made it welcoming and gave guests the chance to socialise. We hoped that people would be able to invite their non Christian friends too. The first Creative Day was a great success; we had several people bringing their friends and many people asked to do it again.

This year there was a mix of age groups; being creative together breaks down all sorts of barriers and encourages inter generational understanding and the building up of the Church as family. The event was covered in prayer. On the day, in a relaxed atmosphere people were able to talk and share; we felt truly blessed!

“We encouraged one another, sympathised when things went wrong, shared our frustrations, laughed together, admired each other’s progress” Jenny

Debbie works hard throughout the year organising lots of the art work for events like Christmas and Easter.  This can be a big operation so lot’s of help is often needed. Creative Day was a success because she “not only got to know people I didn’t know before, but finding no less than 3 lots of people who will help make the Christmas banner – a real answer to prayer.” Debbie

How did Creative Day help you to share life and love Leeds?

“Fellowship was built as we jointly learnt a new skill. We encouraged one another, sympathised when things went wrong, shared our frustrations, laughed together, admired each other’s progress. Around our tables we introduced ourselves and learnt something about each other. God was in the sharing of our lives on that day. We had made new and reinforced old relationships. People came from all over the city, the fellowship of the 50+ Network was strengthened.” Jenny

“It was a great opportunity to get to know other members of the Church, of all ages, and spend time together doing something creative. I met new acquaintances with similar hobbies and learnt new sewing techniques from other members in the group. It was a very enjoyable day and the food was brilliant!” Grace

“For me, the creative day is something of a response to the ‘Shape Course’ in that it was a way to share a gift that I believe I have with wider group and encourage them to see if they are like minded. I think that seeds of growth that we plant as Christians aren’t limited to faith but also to a realisation of ministry, which is what I hoped to inculcate via sketch writing. It was also good, cathartic even, to be able to share how I have written stuff in the past and some of my reasons for writing. It’s quite difficult to explain a part of your life that is usually a fairly solitary experience and open it up for analysis, so I suppose the experience for me was a test of my trust in my fellow Christians as well as in the ‘Boss upstairs’ that I was right to offer the workshop that I did. Having said all that I found the morning fun and the time just flew by!” Clive

If you’re interested in finding out more about creative arts at St George’s get in touch here.

Networks Prepare for Christmas

The Networks met again on 18 Nov (Network Sunday) in various locations around the city and there are many stories of God at work as a result!  In the run up to Advent, Networks have also been preparing for Christmas.

Explorers had a fantastic morning of advent workshops. With over 40 yule logs decorated; “chocolate icing was everywhere showing just how much fun we had.”

 

50+ hosted a meal for ‘Caring for Life’.
“It was a relaxed evening, enjoying each others company, listening to live music and an inspiring talk from Peter Parkinson, founder of Caring for Life.”

 

Take Off enjoyed a great afternoon together after church on 25 Nov; a light lunch and mulled wine followed by hilarious attempts to convert six banana boxes into festive hampers!  “The idea followed on from a presentation our Network attended a year ago by Kidz Klub who inspired us to support their work, prayerfully and practically, and on this occasion making Christmas hampers to distribute to families in the run up to Christmas.  It was really good to spend time together, chat and have fun doing something practical and worthwhile. Six hampers were delivered to the Kidz Klub headquarters on Bridge Street that week!”

 

Transit decorated the Christmas tree in our Church.  “It was great fun with mince pies, Christmas donuts, mulled wine and Christmas songs! Everyone got involved.  The boys
insisted on climbing the ladders and put their lives in danger all for the cause of fixing the lights to the top of the tree!”

Find ou more about Networks at St George’s on our website.

 

Creative Day

The 50+ Network hosted ‘Creative Day’ on Saturday 27th October.  Sue Bishop shares her thoughts… “Over 60 members of church and their friends, took part in Creative Day workshops. We had visitors from as far away as Northallerton and even Germany.

Activities included painting, lace making, pyrography, card making, embossing, calligraphy, flower arranging and jewellery making. Nurture served a delicious buffet lunch too!”

“I had never heard of pyrography before and I really enjoyed it.”

“Fantastic. I will now put my card making skills into action at home.”

“It was good to mix with people of different ages.”

 

50+ Weekend Away

Recently 21 people from the 50+ network enjoyed a great weekend away in the lovely surroundings of Cober Hill at Cloughton near Scarborough.

The aim of the weekend was to enable us to get to know, encourage, and
support one another at a deeper level through various activities.

“We had lots of fun and laughter and new friendships and contacts were made.”

The days started and ended with a short time of prayerful reflection on psalms 90 and 91.

There were optional walks in the brilliant warm sunshine along the coastal Cleveland Way or a leisurely walk which included coffee and conversation in a delightful garden.

The more competitive among us challenged each other to croquet, table tennis and putting and we also put on our thinking caps for a quiz in the evening.

On a crystal clear night some of us had an amazing experience of seeing the wonders of the universe, not visible to the naked eye, through Robin’s powerful telescope, including the Andromeda galaxy 2.4 million light years away.  What an amazing God we have!

As a group we have a wealth of life experiences which hopefully can be put to good use in the church.

To find out more about networks at St George’s, please visit our website or visit the networks board in the church foyer.