August 2025

At the June MU meeting, it was suggested that we hold another coffee morning on August 9th as a community event. I made the offer to Nick Miles and he said yes. Wendy has booked the conservatory and meeting room from 10am. Wendy has also created a poster which she has put on the church FB page and I have printed and displayed it at church. Anna, Rachel, Sheila, Jan and Heather have said that they are available to help. Nick will put out the board he had made a week in advance of the event. Unfortunately, the board says 10am and the posters say 10.30am but everyone has said they can be there at 10am.

July 2025

By all accounts, the summer party was a great success, I am sorry I missed it. I have added the photo which you posted on our whatsapp group to our gallery page.

June 2025

Thank you to Sue Nightingale for her most interesting talk on Mary's meals. Sue kindly gave us 2 copies of the book "The shed that fed a million children" by founder Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow which I will circulate among MU members and the church congregation.

May 2025

Thank you all for providing the coffee morning on May 10th. We raised £69 for Church funds, £64 in cash and £5 via QR code. I bought some tea and coffee which I put into the Church box. If it is acceptable to you all, I will claim the cost back from MU funds. I did speak to Sally about it first.

I also bought 2 Bible books for older children and 2 low cost New Testaments for Baptism families.

Thank you for your votes on programme ideas. I have produced a programme based on your votes.

Lynda, Heather and I attended Members Day at St Paul's Stockingford.The keynote speakers were Siby and Namkha Moleakunnel. They are missionaries of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) from India and they work with International University students in Coventry, building a culture of relationship and hospitality. It was a most inspiring talk. It was also lovely to enjoy fellowship with other members. There were only about 2 dozen of us there though, so Hartshill were actually well represented!

Lynda and Jan will be bringing games for the games afternoon this month. I'm sorry I can't be there. I hope you have fun.

April 2025

Thank you for all your efforts for the Mothering Sunday service. I think it went very well.

We agreed at the AGM that we would continue to give Bible story books to baptism babies ay Holy Trinity and St Peter's. However, "My Very First Bible Stories" are really only suitable for children up to 4 years of age. I have bought a few books for older children and adults.

March 2025

At our February meeting, I did a short presentation on "Our Mothers' Union Year 2024" in preparation for next month's AGM. There were a few actions for you to complete before the AGM on the final slide of the presentation.

We also came up with a plan for making daffodil posies on Saturday 29th March at 10am in the conservatory.

Wendy is bringing daffodils for 40 posies and ribbon.

Sheila is bringing elastic bands.

Rachel is bringing Rosemary and other foliage.

Sally is bringing foil.

Lynda will supply kitchen roll in advance as she won't be there.

Sue is bringing labels and milk for coffee.

We discussed a few topics with the result that we will add items to the AGM agenda for:

Contributing to the Church

Coffee morning for the community as suggested by Sally

I have added the draft programme to the programme page. Last year's minutes and the draft agenda for this year are on the Publications page.

February 2025

Thank you again to Mandy for her inspiring talk on her Pilgrim's Walk and her update on her women's refuge in Azerbaijan.

I attended the Branch Leader's Zoom Meeting on 16th January and there was a long discussion on the use of Mothers' Union funds. It prompted me to write a few words about this in preparation for the AGM. See document Use of Hartshill Mothers' Union Funds.

I have added the Sunshine Tin record to our Publications page.

We had a brief discussion on Mothering Sunday (30th March) at our January meeting. It was agreed that we would donate daffodil posies again. Note that these can be paid for from our Mothers' Union funds. We will make them at 10am in the conservatory on the day before. We will decide who is bringing what next month. Sally and I offered to make a cake to serve with refreshments after the Mothering Sunday service. I will also ask Nick if he could give duties for that service to MU members where possible and include the Mothers' Union prayer.

January 2025

Congratulations to Anna on her enrolment into Mothers' Union at the Advent Service at Holy Trinity, Coventry. It was a very enjoyable occasion. We also enjoyed the Christmas Party. I've added a coupleof photos to the Gallery page.

Lynda, Heather and I also attended the Commissioning Service at Holy Trinity, Attleborough on 11th January. Again, it was a very enjoyable service and I especially enjoyed singing the Mothers' Union Anthem to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. I think we need to incorporate that into one of our services.

We are looking forward to hearing Mandy speak today on her Pilgrims walk.

In addition, we need to discuss 2 things following refreshments:

1. The money that was put into the sunshine tin last month. Was it in lieu of Christmas cards and so do I need to send it to Mothers' Union?

2. The Candlemas service on 1st February.

Next month, we have no activity planned and so I thought I would prepare and present a 'Branch Leader's Report' to focus our minds for the AGM in March, if that is acceptable to you. Don't forget that we are looking for a new treasurer as Heather wants to step down after having done an excellent job for several years. I will repeat what I said before, I am happy for somebody else to take on the Branch Leader's role. If you would like to take on either of these roles , or if you would like more information, please let me know.