Digest
Former church secretary celebrates centenary
Kathleen Archer, a former church secretary of Gatley URC in Stockport, recently celebrated her 100th birthday at Lakeside Care Home, among family and friends.
Born in 1924, the eldest of three children, Kathleen grew up in Fleetwood with a love for the sea, swimming and cycling. She was still swimming twice a week into her mid-80s and only gave up riding her bike in her late 70s. ‘I’ve never been a smoker and I don’t drink at all, but I must have been born with a healthy body!’ Kathleen says.
Kathleen moved to London towards the end of the Second World War, where she volunteered as an auxiliary nurse and also met her future husband, Ralph, in a choir at County Hall Westminster.
The couple moved to Manchester where they both held prominent roles at the church in Gatley. Sadly, Ralph died in 1966.
Kathleen was a stalwart of both the church choir and the Gatley Choral Society. She also held the post of Church Secretary for many years, and then took on the role of pastoral assistant. ‘She was busier in retirement than when she was working full-time!’ said her daughter Cathryn.
Kathleen is grateful for her many friends and says she can look back with a lot of happiness and with a beautiful close family, which includes five grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren.
Winning awards at speed in Nottingham St Andrew’s with Castle Gate URC in Nottingham has gained a Silver Eco Church Award from A Rocha UK.
The church achieved a Bronze Award in December 2022 and just 14 months later achieved Silver after working on the lifestyle component of the award. The congregation now plans to work on the buildings and land sections of the awards scheme to be able to submit for Gold award.
Westbury church is youth friendly
Westbury Gardens URC in Blackburn is the latest in a growing number of congregations to receive a Children and Youth Friendly Award.
Working with Leo Roberts, North Western Synod’s CYDO+, to achieve the status, Westbury URC was able to evidence how children and young people feature at the heart of its mission, and to show how the church’s Christ-centred and community-facing mission statements are being put into practice.
As well as Messy Church and holiday clubs, members of the congregation have built good relations with the community-run judo group, sometimes visiting to offer refreshments from the church, and inviting the young people to a special Christmas service.
Good relationships have been fostered with local schools. The Revd Adam Woodhouse regularly
takes assemblies locally and offers religious education lessons at one of the schools. The congregation has also connected with Clitheroe Grammar School. Students recently visited the church to learn about the United Reformed Church, before continuing an interfaith journey at a local Mosque and a Hindu temple.
To learn more about the Children and Youth Friendly Scheme, visit bit.ly/49Lhlo4
Solidarity with Ukraine
Redland Park URC in Bristol recently hosted an afternoon of Ukrainian culture, organised by the Ukrainian community from in and around the city.
They wanted to do something uplifting, and an ideal vehicle for this was a display of their embroidered shirts, the vyshyvanka. Wearing the vyshyvanka has been a way of asserting Ukrainian identity, a sign of resistance, in Tsarist and Soviet times as well as in the present conflict.
Some vyshyvanky were family heirlooms that refugees had brought over; some came from a special collection in Bolton. The church was packed with Ukrainians and others from the local community, who were also treated to a variety of traditional Ukrainian songs.
Church member Angus Gregson said: ‘As a church we pray for peace with justice, but this was something practical we could do to support our Ukrainian friends.’
Digest is sponsored by
edwards insurance brokers
01564 730 900
www.edwardsinsurance.co.uk
Digest • April 2024 • 3
