Time for a catch up!!!

I have at last found time to update my blog. The last two weeks have been pretty manic and a lot of travelling has been done.
Firstly I have spent 4 days at Willersley Castle in Matlock Derbyshire. The course I attended was arranged by the Salvation Army and entitled Live Laugh Love and was based around Women in Ministry. It was a really good course and it was good to catch up with folk I hadn't seen for a little while. On the Wednesday afternoon I had the opportunity to go abseiling, this was a new experience for me but what a sense of achievement when the abseil was complete. We began on a 20 foot rock and then moved on to a 70 foot drop. I admit I was a little apprehensive but it was a great experience. I now belong to the ' I can do it' club.
I returned home on Thursday evening managed to do some washing before travelling bak up the M1 on Friday morning this time to Swanwick in Derbyshire. This time I took 4 ladies from my Church, we were attending WOW Women of Worth Conference which was part of the Salvation Army United in Mission conference. It was an excellent weekend, the highlight being Abby Guiness performing her Word of the Wives show. If you would like to know more about Abby just google her name. We returned back to Stanford Sunday evening.
Monday saw me travelling to Welwyn Garden City for a day of training on Equality and Diversity. When the course finished I had the privilege of travelling to Stotfold and visited some very dear friends for the evening. It was good to spend time with Emma, Mandy and Tim Lockey.
Just for a change Tuesday was a fairly normal day. In many ways it was good to spend some time in and around Stanford.
Wednesday morning arrived and yet another journey on the M25 and M1, this time to Hothorpe Hall in Theddingworth, Leicestershire. I had the privilege of attending the NCD Natural Church Development. This was a really good course and helped me to see the way forward for my Church, there will be a lot of work involved but it will be worth it in the end. The course finished Friday after lunch, on my way back down the M1 I called in to see some friends in Tring, it was good to see Ted, Margaret, Paul and Hazel. Many thanks for the ice cream Paul.
Life is now returning to normal for a few days cleaning washing and ironing!!!
Tomorrow is the Stanford Festival so I'll try and show you some photos of the tomorrow.
I have included a few photos of the last couple of weeks I hope you enjoy them.

Olympics, Jubilee and Much More

I really don't know where the time goes, it hardly seems possible that it is just over a week since I last posted here. in many ways although life has been busy, this week has generally been a normal week, trying to catch up on paperwork, emails etc.

I have also started planning our Olympic Weekend at the end of July, so that has kept me busy.

Last night we had our quarterly Quiz night at the Stanford le Hope Salvation Army, there were 5 teams, 10 rounds of questions and a marathon. The 'Family Affair' team won, so congratulations to them.

Over the next few weeks, I shall be away more than I am at home, with visits to Willersley Castle Derbyshire, Swanwick Conference Centre Derbyshire, Welwyn Garden City, and Hothorpe hall Leicestershire. still I suppose it will keep me out of mischief.

I have managed to get the cards prepared for the Craft group and they are shown below.

Hadleigh Farm Salvation Army Family Day Out

Today has seen my first visit to the Hadleigh Farm and Tea Rooms, I was attending a Salvation Army Family Day Out organised by London North East DHQ. Although the weather was very exciting it at least stayed dry throughout the day. I have attached some photos. Hadleigh Farm is where the Olympic Mountain Biking event will take place.
I also had the opportunity of viewing the remains of Hadleigh Castle (photos included).
This evening after preparing the PowerPoint for worship tomorrow I have spent some time preparing for the craft group on Wednesday. I have to say the cards look better in real life rather than the photos.

Jubilee Sunday

The weather was wet, it was cold and yet we still had so much to be thankful for. This was the last day of Jubilee Celebrations at Stanford le Hope and we were determined to celebrate in style.

We did wonder how many people would come and in the end there were about 60 people present. We commenced with our Jubilee Big Lunch what a fantastic spread there was. After this there quizzes and competitions including a colouring competition for the adults. There were cup cakes to be decorated, candy floss to be made, jubilee badges to be made to name just a few things available.
Unfortunately we were not able to hold our Songs if Praise outside due to the wet and cold weather, but this didn't stop us holding it inside, we had the help of some bandsmen from Romford which made the afternoon even more special. After the Songs of Praise we all gad a piece of the Celebratory Cake and cups of tea then prizes were awarded for the competitions and quizzes.
As people left they were each given a goody bag which included a Jubilee New Testament which members of Stanford le Hope Salvation Army had donated.
All in all it was an excellent day, even if the weather did try its hardest to dampen our spirit. We are now looking forward to a special weekend for the Olympics at the end of July. Thank you to everyone who helped make these celebrations a success.

Stanford le Hope Carnival

Saturday was certainly a busy day of celebrations in Stanford. Not only were we starting our celebrations for the Queens Diamond Jubilee but it was also the day of the Carnival.

The weather wasn't brilliant but at least it was dry, we were privileged as the Carnival Procession passed our hall so I was able to take some photos and people at our Jubilee Cream Tea and Exhibition were able to be part of the carnival as well.

Jubilee Weekend

Well where do I start? The weekend commenced on Saturday morning with final preparations for our Dolls House and Craft Exhibition we also held a Cream Tea. The people at the Salvation Army Stanford le Hope worked exceptionally hard for this event, everything was ready and set to go by 1:30pm. At 2:30pm our first customers arrived and there was a steady flow of people arriving throughout the afternoon.

It was a great event and I have posted some photos so that you can see some of the exhibition etc.

Where has the week gone?

It hardly seems possible that it is the end of the week already. Tuesday started off well, unfortunately whilst delivering leaflets for our Jubilee Celebrations I got bit by a dog and ended up having a tetanus injection and a course of antibiotics. Still the day got better as I had a couple of hours to visit a few friends.

Wednesday was a hive of industry, firstly I had a meeting for Friends of Hardie Park, craft knit and natter followed this,then we spent the rest of the afternoon packing one hundred goody bags, one hundred goody boxes, and putting all the knitted bunting together. We also wrapped prizes for the competitions at the weekend.

Thursday I had the privilege of attending a Community Games Workshop at Chelmsford it was a very informative evening and I met some really lovely people who are all trying to
Make a better Community where they live.

This morning was an early start at Pitsea Tesco where I joined a group from Thurrock Foodbank collecting food for people in crisis in the area. People were more than happy to help which was great. Coffee morning followed and then final preparations for the weekend.

I have posted some photos showing us getting ready for the Jubilee,and then finally there is a photo of the Foodbank collection.