The Christmas services have now been added to the calendar.

Dawn Chorus

On the first Sunday of each month at Westbury Park Methodist Church, we have a special service for children under 7 and their families. It is informal – action songs suitable for little ones, a story and some simple prayers.  It starts at 09.15 and the service lasts about 20 minutes.  There is no lower age limit for this service!

Contact: Astrid & Charles Pestell 0117 9620966

Upcoming dates:

6th December

Crèche

There are crèche facilities available with a variety of toys at St Alban’s 10.15am service. The room is glass fronted looking into the church and the service is relayed into the crèche via a loudspeaker.  Use it for as little or as much of the service as you need. The crèche is most suitable for children under 3 years of age.

Sunday School Nursery Group

As children approach 3 years old, the crèche starts to lose its appeal and nursery group takes them up to the time when they start school.  Nursery group meets during the 10.15 a.m. service at St Alban’s Church on the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of each month.

On these Sundays, we meet in the Wells Room (a small room decorated with pre-school displays in the St Alban‘s Church Hall). The emphasis is on play and fun!  Parents are welcome to stay or return to the service depending on the needs of your child.

Contact: Alison Grant 0117 950868

Sunday School 5 – 16years

Follow the crowd during the second hymn at the 10.15 service for a warm welcome in the St Alban’s Church Hall. There are five different groups to meet the needs of this age range. On the second Sunday of the month, we all stay in church for the all-age family service.

Junior Choir

St Alban’s Junior Choir welcomes all children of primary school age or just below. Junior Choir meets together from 6.15 to 6.45pm on a Friday night in St Alban’s Church in school term time.  Nicky and Nigel’s teaching is based on voice to voice technique and does not require an ability to read – just enthusiasm!  The main aim is to

build self confidence to perform.

Contact: Nicky & Nigel Walton 0117 9409201

Messy Church

Ever thought that church was too neat and tidy? Well, come to Messy Church instead! From 4 – 6pm on the third Wednesday of the month – there will be an hour of craft, a short service and then we’ll all have dinner together before home time. All ages are welcome but especially for primary school children.

Contact: Emma Langley 0117 951 9771

Upcoming dates:

18th November, 16th December

Youth Group 11+

We meet every Wednesday evening 4.30 – 5.30pm term time to eat, have fun, play games and explore our faith. Open to all young people at secondary school. Also, once a month we get together on a Sunday evening for a couple of hours of fun, trips and chilling out.

Contact: Emma Langley 0117 951 9771 or emmalang@aol.com

Any changes will be noted in the weekly church newsletter.

Description: Father Christmas is coming and there will be activities for children to keep them happy while you shop.  The money raised is distributed by our United Missionary Committee who will decide the charities.

This is always a happy event so do please support it.  Please put items for sale at the back of church each Sunday (see list of stalls on the back).  If you would like to join in making this rewarding and fun event a huge success (morning, afternoon or both) please contact Pauline Nichols (direct or via the webmaster) – cover for one of the stalls, help setting up or tidying up afterwards are all welcome.

At a recent meeting of Westbury Park Methodist Church Council it was decided to ask for permission under Standing Order 611 from the District Synod to merge the accounts of Westbury Park Methodist Church and St Alban’s into the Ecumenical Parish Council and to place all rights and responsibilities of the local trustees into their hands. The recent circuit meeting agreed to pass this on to Synod (which meets in September). A new constitution and building sharing agreement needs to be finalized but we hope that all of this can happen by Christmas this year.

This should not affect the current building users in any way – indeed, we hope to further develop community use in all of our buildings. This is the obvious next step in our partnership and we hope that all concerned will benefit from it.

At the same meeting, the church council also decided that the time had come to stop Sunday morning worship at Westbury Park Methodist Church. So from October all worship will be United Worship at St Alban’s. This does not mean that the building will not be used for worship – indeed we hope that all sorts of worship will happen there, but that it will not be in the same form as we have been used to.

~ Emma Langley