The Parish of Elmdon

This leaflet (right) brings together details of all the services that will be happening in the parish in April, May and June 2012; we hope you will find it useful. Copies are available at all three centres of worship, or click on the cover (right) to download.

We would like to decorate St. Nicholas Church with flowers for the Diamond Jubilee long weekend (2-4 June). If you could help with a donation towards the cost of flowers, gifts can be given to the Churchwardens or to Tina Keeling. Or, make an flower arrangement yourself – the church will be decorated on Saturday 2nd, at 10am.

In addition to the regular Sunday teas on Sunday 3rd, we hope to open the church on the afternoon of Monday 4th. There will also be a special service of thanksgiving for the Diamond Jubilee on the Monday evening at 8 pm before the beacon is lit by the Mayor at 10.15 pm. All welcome but please indicate you plan to come by signing the sheet provided. Solihull Council will provide refreshments on the evening, but if you can help their events team to serve these please let the Wardens know.

There will also be strawberry teas and craft activities at St. Stephen’s Church Centre on the afternoon of Sunday 3rd, 3-5pm.

The children at St Nicholas are going to provide containers for people to collect money in for Send a Cow. If you have any butter tubs, yoghurt pots or other similarly sized receptacles with lids, please bring them to St Nicholas by Sunday 27th May. The decorated tubs will be available afterwards for anyone who would like one. Thank you!

At The Girl’s Brigade we have had great fun this term learning about the Monarchy; craft activities have included decorating commemorative plates for the Diamond Jubilee and making a replica of the orb used at the royal coronation ceremony. Our notice board is full of the information we have learnt so far, and our craft work will also be on display at the Strawberry Teas event on June 3rd; feel free to come and have a look! A memory board is also being put together for this event so if you have any photos, articles or stories you can share please let us have them before the event. Send memories to Pat Lyons and/or bring any items to St Nicholas on Sunday, May 27th and hand to Pat. Any item or photos loaned will be looked after extremely carefully.

Wednesday 27 June at St Luke’s Church Centre, Great Colmore Street, Lee Bank, Birmingham, B15 2AT. May we invite you to join us at 7pm to hear Dr Kang San Tan and Mrs Loun Ling Tan speaking on AsiaCMS – a new venture! They will be sharing something of the plans to respond to requests by Asian churches, to establish a centre in Asia, encouraging mission amongst Asians and equipping Asian Christians to share the gospel more effectively amongst other Asians. Website for full information: www.st-lukes-church-centre.org.uk

Message from Nick and Paula Partridge: We would like to pass on our thanks and appreciation to all who helped with the concert, especially those who organised the car park, moved the furniture, served refreshments, etc. A special thank you to Alan Doyle for printing the flyers and posters for us, too. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Cake Sale

Thank you so much to those who generously made and/or bought cakes last Sunday. The amount of £108 was raised for CMS.

Julian Smith Concert

Grateful thanks to Nick and Paula Partridge for arranging this excellent concert, also to Julian and his friends for so generously splitting the proceeds with the Church. Our share of the proceeds was £655.60. Additionally, donations for refreshments raised in excess of £200 for Send a Cow.

Winter Warmers

At the end of the Winter Warmers season Val and Tony Shaw would like to thank all those who took time out to help. It would be wonderful if the people who came into the Church on Sunday afternoons were to eventually join us in worship. The money raised (£800) will be donated towards the work of the Church. If anyone would like to be added to the next Winter Warmers rota please let Val or Tony know.

If you enjoy walking you are invited to join in a circular ramble from Meriden, passing through Berkswell, a total of approx 8 miles, on Saturday, 26 May. Meeting at Meriden at 10 a.m. Contact Rob Dean for further information.

Reminder: The postponed Accord concert will take place at St Stephen’s on Saturday, 19 May at 7.30 pm. Tickets £10 including fish and chip supper. To book your ticket please contact Pat Lyons or Nita Stallard. Tickets purchased earlier in the year are still valid.