November 2004 - Parish News


ST ANDREWS CHURCH

Joan Austin & Viv Porter
at the Harvest Supper, meeting up with friends at the Harvest Supper, enjoying the evening.

HARVEST FESTIVAL AND SUPPER
We decided to spread the activities over two weekends this year, to spread the workload and increase the enjoyment. Harvest Festival Weekend 1 saw gatherings at the school and St Andrews followed by distribution of token Harvest gifts around the community of the produce offered. We are grateful to those at school and church for help with this, which was enjoyed all round.
Then on the Friday evening of the following weekend we celebrated with Harvest Supper, a popular annual event in the Village Hall enjoyed by many throughout our community. This year was no exception as we welcomed almost 100 friends and neighbours and one or two from further a field. We all enjoyed the supper, prepared by our hardworking team and we are very thankful to them for the time and effort put in. Liz Higgens put on musical entertainment, youngsters this year who showed their musical talents by playing on an amazing selection of instruments; many thanks to Liz and the youngsters!
The Friendship Club folks all had great fun: demob happy, they were looking forward to their holiday jaunt to Ilfracombe the following week. A special treat was to welcome some really old friends to the Village Hall including Dorrie Strong, Betty Marriot and Joan Austin, ladies maturing in years who did so much in the past in our church and community. It was great to see them all again on such fine form!
We are thankful to so many at this time, but let’s not forget Anil at the Post Office and all at Parish News who were instrumental in publicising Harvest Supper and selling so many tickets. We squeezed about 90 into the Hall and if you missed out this year look out for next year’s Harvest Supper, which will come round soon enough!


Ian & Peter Wilson help to entertain us.


Teresa Willson with David Kingston looking
very coy for a change!


David Kingston insisted this went in so- for those of you who don’t know these faces, one is me, Sue Cowell and the one of the right is Jan Buttery! As you can see we were both having a lovely time.

ST ANDREWS CHURCH
After the service there was an extra announcement from Ken Crossett who called Teresa Willson to the front to hand out some certificates. The certificates were for all the hard work that Geoff Daniel, Brian Church and David Kingston had done whilst counting up the money given with the shoeboxes to help with the delivery costs last year. I think a few drinks at the pub probably helped with the campaign but it was a tremendous effort on their part as the money consisted of over £27,000 and a lot of it was in change! 
Teresa thanked them all and hoped they would be able to help again this year.
David Kingston, Geoff Daniels, Brian Church and Teresa Willson with the Banking certificates
After the presentation we had another surprise and this one was for Reverend Joy who was celebrating her birthday that day. She was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers to mark the occasion. 


Joy with her birthday bouquet


OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
Whilst we are still celebrating all the good work from the last shoebox appeal we are able to report some really good news. Teresa and Tony have managed to obtain a warehouse for this years shoeboxes so its now ‘all hands to the deck’ to get it ready for the collection of the boxes which begins mid November.
Teresa will also be looking for volunteers to help check, pack and seal the boxes before they are collected for the long journey overseas. If you want to help with this very worthwhile cause please contact Teresa on 01582 432681. We need both male and female volunteers, so if you have a bit of spare time before Christmas, please think about joining this worthwhile appeal.
We also have two drop-off points to mention: the Parish Office in Markyate Village Hall, Cavendish Road and Stopsley Baptist Church if you need to drop any boxes off. Call Teresa for more details.
We have been going out to different places and talking to schools, churches and organisations about Operation Christmas Child and the support has been very encouraging. At the John Bunyan Church in Elstow we went along to the Harvest Festival and the children there have already made up 28 boxes. We spoke to one of the children, who use to live in Armenia, which is one of the countries that is supported by Samaritans Purse. She had been in England for four years and was very settled here. It is good to know that she is now helping children from her own country.


ALEY GREEN CHURCH

God of all grace,
You call us into new relationships of faith and love.
May we learn to trust one another
And look to Christ together,
So that the world may believe in you;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our preserve stall at Farley Hill Methodist Church helped towards raising £125 for the Macmillan Cancer Relief Fund. In the afternoon we took £41 in produce sales at the 3rd Caddington show. We (the church) took 3rd prize for our 3 fruit marmalade, 2nd prize for the plum jam and 3rd prize for hedgerow jam. As some you will know, we have a church allotment in Caddington. We took first prize for our tomatoes and 3rd prize for a pumpkin. A lot of fruit and veg are grown on the allotment (and given to us by kind allotment holders), to make our jams, jelly’s and chutney. If you would like any preserves or a basket of goodies made up for a Christmas present, please ring me on 733668.
The church looked and smelt wonderful for the Harvest Festival, we thank every one for giving so generously. The evening of the Auction, saw our little church packed with people. Carol Bull, once more did a marvellous job as Auctioneer and we raised £234.70 for the Methodist Relief and Development Fund.
Thank you to all villagers and the Luton Circuit, who came along to the Autumn Fayre. £516 was raised for the running of our church. Friends of the church helped us to make up 33 Link Romanian shoeboxes and others paid the £66 postage. We have never sent this many before and were very pleased with the result.
The children of our Sunday school have been working on the theme Jesus in Command and enjoying it. Our Sunday school and church service start at 11am. Come and join us, you’ll be given a warm Aley Green welcome.
Yours in faith, Aley Green Methodist Church. Ann Meader


FAREWELL TO PAT *****

All those who so kindly help with the distribution of Parish News and collection of the subs are stars. But Pat Yule of the Grove, who is shortly moving to Lowestoft, has been a superstar! In three years or so, she has increased her ‘round’ from 40 to over 50 subscribers, almost all paid up in good time. 

Pat & John are great characters. They will surely be missed at The Grove, where they have organised BBQs, Christmas parties and other social events with enthusiastic support from their community. These events have raised funds to pay for a marquee to be used in years to come, and for significant donations to local charities. We all send our very best wishes for them in their new home.

Pat and John with Bobby


SLIP END AFTER-SCHOOL CLUB 
Has a vacancy for a Play leader
Slip End After School Club requires a Leader for four afternoons a week from 3.30 to 6.00 p.m. in term time only. Main duties are to organise activities and to care for the children who range from 4 to 12 years of age.
Applicants must have NVQ3 or equivalent qualification in Childcare
Salary: £15 per session
Contact Sarah Ballard, Slip End After School Club, Slip End Lower School, Rossway. Slip End, Luton, LU1 4BB. or phone Sarah on 01582 415124.


BOTTLE BANK
For use by residents of Slip End and District, our Bottle Bank is situated in the Frog and Rhubarb car park in Church Road. This is supplied and operated by SBDC to improve and increase glass recycling. 


DANCES AT THE VILLAGE HALL
Shirley would like to thank all those who have supported these events in the past and looks forward to seeing you soon. The next dates are November 20th and December 4th.


SLIP END TODDLER GROUP
The Toddler Group does not often contribute to the Parish News as we tend to run to a similar pattern each week, but for those who would like to know a little about the group this is who we are and what we do.
Toddlers is for parents and their young children (most of the children are from a few weeks old to about three years old). We also welcome grandparents and childminders with their 'charges'.
We are open every Tuesday afternoon of the school term from 1.30. to 3.00. in Slip End Village Hall. We only use the entrance door from the car park as with small children about it is easier to keep an eye on just the one door. The cost is £1.30 for an adult plus one child and 70p for each extra person. You do not have to commit to coming every week and only pay when you attend.

Each week there are toys and activities for the babies and children followed by a drink and a snack and usually the musical instruments come out for the end of the afternoon. Adults benefit from getting to know others with youngsters in the local area and can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and often a slice of cake served by Sue and Lyn who very kindly come every Tuesday to do the catering for us. 
A committee of ‘mums’ who are also the committee for the Playgroup manages the Toddler group. The afternoons are currently planned and run by Jenny who will be pleased to welcome you and your children to join Toddlers. Just come along on a Tuesday afternoon or for more information call Jenny on 01582 720849.
We are having a photographer visiting us on Tuesday 2nd November to take photos of the children. These make excellent Christmas presents so do consider coming on that date. Also on that day there will be a selection of cards, wrapping and gift tags etc for you to purchase ready for Christmas.
Playgroup term started on 6th September and this term we are welcoming lots of new children with the boys out-numbering the girls by 3 to 1. We are full up now until Christmas but should have spaces again in the New Year when about 12 of our children will be moving on to school either here in Slip End or in Caddington.
This term's activities follow the season with harvest, autumn and, before you know it, Christmas to think about. The new children are settling in nicely and beginning to get the hang of the routine with the help of the older children.

This term we will be sorry to say good-bye to Sue Day, one of our members of staff, who is leaving to work at a day nursery in Dunstable. She became associated with Playgroup first over 12 years ago (when her own children attended the group) by working on the committee and as treasurer. She then became a member of staff and did her NVQ3 training with us. We wish her good luck and every success in her new job.
Julie, Jill and Mandy will have been joined by a new member of staff by the time you are reading this. Mandy has begun her NVQ2 training at Barnfield College. We will be supporting her in this and wish her success too.

This term's fund raising for the Christmas party is our usual Nearly New Sale on 16th October in the Village Hall. There has been a slight change as this time we are keeping 25% of the money taken for our funds. We hope that this will raise enough to pay for the entertainment and presents for the children.
Jill Acton


DID YOU HEAR ABOUT?…….

The convict who had an allergy? He broke out.
The mime artist who went shopping? He only bought unmentionables.
The knife-sharpener who quit his job? He couldn’t stand the daily grind.
The claustrophobic astronaut? He needed some space.




Sat. 13th November
Peter Edwards Hall 
Slip End Playing Field 
Doors open 7.30pm for 8.00pm start

Teams: maximum of 8 people 

£6 per person including
Fish or Chicken & Chips Supper
B-Y-O Knives, Forks, Drinks & Glasses 
For tickets call 
Steve on 414162


Slip End
Tennis Club

Unfortunately – the Quiz night last month had to be cancelled due to lack of tickets sold. Why not try and get along and have a fun night out meeting up with neighbours and friends from the Village and help support the Tennis Club at the same time. A lot of hard work goes into organising these events and it would be a shame if they were not able to continue due to low numbers. No need to drive there, its nice and handy and you never know – you might just win!


LAUGHTER
A nurse received a call from an anxious diabetic who was worried she had consumed too much sugar that day. “Are you light-headed?” enquired the nurse. “No I’m a brunette,” the woman replied.

A rookie reporter was dispatched by the editor to cover the story of a man who claimed to be able to sing opera while eating a three-course meal. When the young news hound returned he told the editor the story wasn’t worth publishing. His boss asked him why. “It was a trick”, the reporter said. “The man had two heads.”

Dave sauntered into a pub and noticed Vincent Van Gogh standing at the bar. Awe-struck, Dave asked the artist if he could buy him a drink. “No thanks,” Van Gogh replied “I’ve got one ‘ere.”

When the son told his mother he had foolishly turned over a CD to play the other side she tutted and said, “Even I know not to do that! I hope you haven’t damaged the needle.”


FEED THE BIRDS

As food in the garden becomes scarce, why not provide some winter meals for the birds?
Different birds eat in different ways: tits like to feed from suspended bags, and wrens like food at ground level. A bird table is the obvious choice; get one with a roof to keep the food dry.
· Put out a wide variety of food including nuts, fats, seeds, cheese, bacon rind and bread
· Provide fresh water every day
· Make it a commitment for the whole winter as birds will rely on food from you and travel a distance to return to your garden.
· Sprinkle a block of lard with oats and tie it up in a nylon-netting bag you get when buying oranges. Hang it up in the garden and the birds will love you for it.

JOBS FOR NOVEMBER

q Put away garden furniture for the winter. Store under cover and away from wet ground.

q Place a net over your garden pond if there are trees nearby.


q Wrap any clay pots that are not frost proof in bubble wrap.


FRIENDSHIP CLUB

Many thanks to Slip End School and St Andrew’s Church for our Harvest Gifts and further thanks to the children and staff at Slip End School for inviting us all to their Harvest Festival; we really enjoyed that!
It was lovely to see our dear friend Joan Austin (hear, hear: Editor) at the Harvest Supper in the Village Hall. Joan was always involved in Friendship Club activities before she moved away to Dunstable some years back, so it was nice to be in touch.
We had a great time on our holiday in Ilfracombe! Our driver took us out every day and our tour manager, Joan, showed us many places of interest pointing out every one of the churches we passed! Many thanks to Maureen who arranged our booking with UK Holidays.
We now look forward to our next outing to the Cross Keys for Christmas Dinner.
Josie is making a good recovery after her terrible accident and we all wish her well.
Viv Porter


ALLOTMENT AND GARDEN ASSOCIATION
Vegetable garden

Dig all available ground and lime dress. The rougher the ground is left the better it will be, benefiting from the wind and frost. Animal manure can be worked in.
Protect cauliflowers and broccoli from frost by bending over the outer leaves.
Flower and fruit garden

Early plants, such as wallflowers, polyanthus, myosotis and daisies, if not already bedded out should be put in at once and protected from frost until established. Also put in late flowering bulbs.

Cut off all dead or dying stems and leaves, including those from trees, and burn.
Bush and standard roses can be pruned now up until March.

This is a great month for planting all deciduous trees, shrubs and climbers, both ornamental and fruiting.


1ST AND 2ND WOODSIDE BROWNIES

Early in October, Francine Baird, my granddaughters Zoe and Amy and their Mum, and myself walked six miles to raise money for the Pasque and Keech Cottage Hospice. Thanks to those who sponsored, we raised well over £150.

Since Brownies restarted after the summer holidays, six girls have joined us and we still have room for a few more.

Forthcoming event: Table top sale at the Village Hall, Saturday November 13th , 11am -2pm.


CRAFTS FOR CHRISTMAS

IN AID OF LOCAL CHARITIES

SLIP END VILLAGE HALL
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 28th
10am – 3pm
MANY STALLS REFRESHMENTS AVAILABLE


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