A Busy Week and a Half  ~  19th to 28th November 2011!

Apart from the regular activities in the Hall, it hosted four special and very successful events.  First came the Missions Lunch on the 19th when we successfully gave a three course lunch to over 120 people from all over the Circuit.  A magnificent £1200+ was raised to be shared between the three Mission groups.  'Kitchen staff' did a wonderful job and the new dishwasher was well and truly put through its paces!

Five days later we had a full Hall again for a fund raising evening entitled Patter, Pedestals and Puddings!  Our very own Flower Arranging expert, Margaret Le Cornu, gave us an evening full of humour and masterly floral arrangements.  While keeping up a flow of entertaining 'patter', Margaret produces the most amazing arrangements - in this case all 'pedestal' creations - with such apparent ease and startling effect.  Like all masters of their art, Margaret makes complex processes and a lot of hard work in the background, all look so effortless!  Over 100 good folk from all over the Island made up the expectant audience and helped to raise over £1,500!!  Naturally at St. Martin, the evening could not be allowed to pass without food and so 23 most delicious puddings were laid out to everyone's delight.

Here are a few photographs for the record.  The theme Margaret had chosen was the Royal Wedding and arrangements represented themes such as the ceremony, the wines at the reception, the honeymoon islands, the candles in the Abbey, etc.  See if you can spot them.  Richard and Mary Le Brocq also sold Mary's most beautiful hand made greetings cards for the funds and Alan Mollet and Wendy Binet punctuated the flower demonstration with suitable musical renderings.

 News from Africa

On Saturday 26th November, a somewhat smaller group met in the smaller partitioned Hall to here a talk from Gabriel Amolo (Gabby) the impressive Deputy Director of the OGRA Foundation in Kenya where he works along side his friend and senior colleague, Hezron, to bring help to young children to have a full primary education and help for some with secondary and even tertiary education.  Through Ed Le Quesne, one time Hezron's science teacher at Victoria College in Jersey, and the WASOT organisation, Jersey has had a long association with financial and practical projects for OGRA.  The Foundation also funds and pioneers many health schemes in Kenya and the Islands around Lake Victoria.  We were given a fascinating insight into the challenges of this pioneering work in a very different culture and political environment.

A Circuit Consultation and Response to the Connexion's "Fruitful Fields" Initiative

On Monday 28th November folk from all over the Circuit came together to consider the proposals entitled Fruitful Fields which come to us from the Methodist Council for radical changes in which the Methodist Church trains its people both ordained and lay.  These changes are huge and involve selling its stock of venerable colleges and concentrating resources in one central training 'hub' of excellence.  While some clearly felt regret for the passing of former times, there was general support for this courageous and visionary project.  Some checks and balances would need to be put in place to assure both a breadth and depth theological outlooks, but it was felt that this would be an excellent opportunity to restore a truly Methodist identity as a "discipleship movement, shaped for mission".

The second part of the meeting looked at more local challenges and opportunities for growth.  This was a follow up to an earlier meeting under the heading of "All in this together".  We considered the need for a reshaping of the Circuit to allow for energies and resources to be given to all manner of initiatives, as it were, at the edge of present church life and the even harder task of rationalising some of the duplicate activities that happen on Sundays.  It was agreed that there is no future in attempting to maintain the status quo and with limited time remaining the time for action was coming fast upon us.  An image inspired by General Secretary, Martyn Atkins, of the wind of the Spirit stirring among us and of our need to unfurl the sails to catch that wind while it is there, found great favour and generally there was a very positive mood for these challenges ahead.  Though some hoped for action straightaway, it was felt that members must now go out and inspire others and prepare the way for changes that would not be comfortable for all but nevertheless essential for the very survival of our church and Methodist movement.

A Community Project ~ Part 1

In March 2010 at the Annual Church Meeting, a Powerpoint presentation was given challenging members to consider: "Whither the future?" and urging us to look at our mission and service beyond our walls to the community of we are a part.  It was suggested that with a good car park and a Hall of generous proportions, there was potential at our disposal but the building was dated, too large for many purposes and lacking in versatility.  The kitchen had long been thought to be in need of renovation and disabled facilities were virtually non-existent.

Here might be a good, practical start for a much broader Community Project aimed a discovering 'new ways of being church'.  Preliminary designs - some fanciful! - for producing a flexible set of premises with greatly improved facilities, capable of maintaining the full sized Hall when needed but smaller sized rooms with movable partitions when more appropriate, were presented and, happily, captured the imagination.

A subsequent survey of opinions and a Council Meeting gave approval for the project.  Members set to with fund raising projects and professional designs were drawn and costings obtained.  Grants for this imaginative scheme came in from several quarters.   By July 2011 all was set for the builders to move in and given 12 weeks to complete the transformation!  And so it was that, despite a few set-backs when rotten rafters were discovered, the ceiling was lowered, solid nineteenth century walls were thermally lined, disabled ramps and toilets were installed and the kitchen transformed complete with new cooker, boiler, dishwasher and hatch into the hall.

With a few minor finishing touches to complete in ancillary areas, all was ready for a re-opening at a Café-style Service on Sunday, 25th September (also, appropriately, national Back-to-Church Sunday).  Over a hundred members and friends, including our recent centenarian, Mrs. Win Perchard,  gathered to the accompaniment of coffee and croissants, for an inspiring act of worship led by, Minister, the Revd. Billy Slatter.  Now the real task of outreach begins but already new relationships are being forged and new ideas explored to meet the needs of our community in a new century . . .

Picture Gallery

The Hall as it was	The renovated Hall	The old kitchen	The new kitchen	The new cooker
Partition shut - medium hall	The 'small' hall	Back to basics in the kitchen	Oh dear! Rotten beam ends	Rafter repairs
Thermal lining	Lowered ceiling and partition	Plans for the kitchen	Creating the hatch	Mains water supply replaces the borehole
Moving back into the kitchen	Café worship in the new hall	Billy & Pauline Slatter lead worship	Mrs. Win Perchard at 100!	Circuit Worship with District Chair, David Hinchliffe

Celebrating Thai and Mauritian Culture . . .  & Food!

An army may 'march on its belly' but St. Martin Methodists like their food too.  We could not have a new hall and a new kitchen without having some kind of feast to test it all, including the dishwasher, and raise funds of course! So members Chalao, originally from Thailand and Stephanie from Mauritius organised a sumptuous Thai and Mauritian Feast for us to enjoy.  At risk of making them home sick, Steph's husband, Tim du Feu, gave us a taste of Thailand and Mauritius cultures in an interesting Powerpoint presentation.  We all went home a little wiser and gastronomically satisfied!

St. Martin's Day United Open Air Worship & Festival

To celebrate the Parish Patron Saint Martin of Tours' Festival, we joined with our Anglican and Roman Catholic friends for an act of worship in the open air.  Over 300 folk gathered on the Parish Green in an act of worship led by the parish clergy and then enjoyed a veritable feast complete with hog roast, followed by an entertaining musical pageant about our patron saint, while younger children enjoyed a couple of bouncy castles, various side shows and organised games.  A very good time was had by all.

Harvest with a Difference

Because of the building project in the Hall this year, there could be no Harvest Supper and Sale, raising funds for charity.  But this restriction was put to productive use by changing the displays a little this year.  Less perishable fruit and vegetables for the sale but a lot more canned and packaged produce which could be sent directly to Romanian folk from our long-term church project with the charity 'Ecce Homo'.

Lorri's Filipino Feast

One of our final events in the 'old' Hall, just before it closed for renovation, was a splendid Filipino evening host by our friend Lorri.  One hundred members and friends gathered to enjoy and evening of Filipino food, music, fun and fellowship. It was such a success that we even had to set up table outside near the car park!  Funds were raised for our community project and the evening proved a great success.

A Birthday Party in May

May 22nd was a splendid opportunity not only to remember Wesley Day but, this year, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jean de Quetteville, a great pioneer of Methodism in the Channel Islands and continental France and a St. Martin boy to boot!  Jean was born on May 24th 1761 and brought up at Le Câtillon, St. Martin.  A serious-minded young man, he was later educated in Winchester, where he first came under the influence of Methodist preachers.  Later converted through preaching of Robert Carr-Brackenbury of Raithby Hall in Lincolnshire, he was ordained by Dr. Thomas Coke and became a leading Methodist minister and missionary in the Islands and France, finally settling principally in Guernsey.

On the 22nd May 2011, the Revd.David Le Seelleur, himself a St. Martin boy and retired Methodist Minister, led us in a fascinating celebration of Jean de Quetteville's life and remarkable ministry.  In his own ministry, David once served in Lincolnshire, close to Raithby and had the privilege of leading worship in the chapel at Raithby Hall, built by Sir Robert Carr-Brackenbury.  Wesley himself preached there and there is a hook behind the pulpit where he is alleged to have hung his hat!

Easter Art

Easter morning Communion saw a packed church with our own congregation augmented by the members of neighbouring Ebenezer Methodist Church joining with us to hear the Resurrection message powerfully proclaimed by our Minister, the Revd. Billy Slatter.  Worship was enriched by music offerings that were both beautiful and moving and amazing displays of artwork produced by members of the congregation, enhanced by equally beautiful floral displays. 

2011 - the start of a busy and bright new mission for our church

As we have moved into 2011, our Church community has braced itself for a busy, challenging and exciting mission project in our community, actioning our Mission Statement. Plans have been drawn, passed, costed and allocated to building firms for our Hall and ancillary buildings.  Fund raising events and grants are now in place and well on the way to raising the £110,000 we need to see the project through to completion.  Dates are set with a start on 20th June to completion in mid -September. 

We have good basic premises with good parking facilities, but everything about them give their late nineteenth century date away beneath the coats of 1980s paints.  The idea of the project is to make them more fit-for-purpose in a twenty-first century setting.  This will include a complete renovation of the 1990s kitchen with a new hatch into the Halls; upgraded toilet facilities with a disabled toilet included and disabled access throughout.  The plan is also to provide a movable divider in the Hall, which is large, to provide two slightly different sized areas to suit different purposes and seating capacities while retaining the present large size for activities such as the popular church meals and mission lunches, concert performances and, excitingly, new forms of worship such as cafe-style services and "messy church".

A recent Church Council (February 2011) not only unanimously endorsed the proposed changes but welcomed with enthusiasm the possibilities of "being church in new ways" and the possibilities for outreach in our broader community that these changes will open up.  These are exciting times.

We have two new toddler groups already working in the building.  These are not church run concerns but they work sympathetically with the church and efforts are being made to build up positive friendships and links with the families represented there.  We are aware of the challenges of this work and the fact that what we offer at present does not measure up to the needs and inclinations of our friends here.  But we believe that together with the families of our own church groups for children and young people there is a great opportunity for outreach if we work together to find the right ways that meet the needs of our community in contemporary and relevant ways.  Where there is the will there is a way and we see that will developing!  After all we have a great gospel to proclaim but the old ways are not always any more fit-for-purpose than our buildings have been.  Wish us well and please pray for us.

Working together with a Purpose

Already a bonus of this task is that so many groups have been working together with a purpose, raising funds for the project.  A Church Cook Book has been produced coordinated by member, Shirley Downs, and drawing on the talents of many people, and has raised over £700.  Three other ladies organised a very popular and successful Hymn Singing Evening raising over £600.  A Filipino and Thai food evening, drawing on the talents of our friends Chilau and Lori, is now firmly under way and numerous other events are planned which we look forward to.