| Harvest Supper, Concert & Services |
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It is hard to imagine that the Harvest season is over already! But what a blessing each of our services were to those who came along. I would like to thank most sincerely all those folk who contributed to our celebrations in whatever way. Some decorated the churches, some cleaned, some provided the flowers, vegetables and decorations, some performed, some provided food at our supper, some played at our services, some preached, some led services and some simply came along. But together, we all added to the sense of celebration and gave thanks once more to the Lord of the Harvest. At each of our services and at our supper and concert, the loose collection was given to the work of SAMS and Crosslinks. As yet, we don’t have a final figure but suffice to say that it should be in excess of €3,000. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously of their time, talents and monies. |
Rev John Wannacott preached the sermon at Ballyconnell. |
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Below are just some of the photographs taken at the Concert.
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Swanlinbar Supper Dance
For those who would rather get out their dancing shoes, don’t forget about the annual Swanlinbar Supper Dance in Enniskillen. The usual excellent buffet supper, will be served at 9 pm sharp followed by dancing to Cascades, all for the bargain price of £12. Anyone wishing to buy a ticket can do so by contacting Alice Gould on 048 6774 8749. |
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Sale of Work
The annual sale of work for Corrawallen & Newtowngore Parishes takes place this year on Friday 31st October at 7.30pm in the Parish Hall, Newtowngore. Everyone is warmly invited to come along for all of the usual stalls (come early if you want to get the cakes!!).
We would like to encourage folk to donate gifts of items for the bric-a-brac stall and also clothing. Your donations are very important to the success of the sale but please do sort through items before bringing them along. As often happens at sales of this type, folk clear their loft or cupboards and bring all along to the hall. Could I gently encourage you if you would like to make a gift of this type to have a bin bag by your side as you do so and if you think that something is not really up to scratch to consign it to the bin rather than landing it at the Parish Hall.
Please do come along and support our sale as this is an important source of funding for the running and upkeep of our Churches. .
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Happy Birthday to Anna Johnston
Many happy returns to Mrs Anna Johnston of Newtowngore Parish, who celebrated her 95th birthday
on Saturday 11th October.
Anna we all wish you a
most happy birthday and
every blessing in the years to come. |
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Gift Day
Don't forget the Annual Gift Day for St Peter’s, Templeport will be on Sunday 19th October at the service of Morning Prayer in the Parish Church. |
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| Group Office Surgery Hours for remainder of October and early November |
| Day |
Date |
Time |
| Thursday |
16th October |
9.30 - 11.30 am |
| Monday |
20th October |
2 - 4 pm |
| Tuesday |
28th October |
11 am - 1 pm |
| Wednesday |
5th November |
2 - 4 pm |
| Tuesday |
11th November |
12.00 - 2 pm |
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Work to Swanlinbar Rectory
Work is progressing steadily with the walls of the lounge now skimmed and the floor about to be re-laid. As you read these notes, the fire surround should have been installed and the pipe work for the new stove commenced. It has been a dusty, dirty time but we trust that the work will be well worth it in the long run. Thank you to all vestries for supporting this necessary work.
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Work to Parish Churches
Not much more to report this month other than to say that the planned roof work to Tomregan Parish Church is now imminent and that the replacement of the guttering on the Church is scheduled for next year. Applications have been submitted for grant aid for this next phase of work, so do pray that in the current financial climate, funding is still available for this important work. The current guttering on the Church is more suited to a domestic house and is considered to be inadequate for our inclement weather.
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Retirement of Mrs Joan Patterson
Next Sunday, 19th October 2008 will be a special day in the life of the Kildallon part of our Group of Parishes as it marks the official retirement of the School Principal for Newtowngore National School, Mrs Joan Patterson. A service to mark the occasion will take place at 3 pm in the Parish Church, Newtowngore followed by refreshments in the Parish Hall.
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GFS
This will resume on Tuesday 4th November between 4.30 pm & 5.45 pm in Newtowngore Parish Hall. It has proved rather difficult to get a day and time to suit everyone, young girls have such a busy life these days!! If your child is aged 4 or over they would be very much welcome to join GFS – please contact Matilda Hyland (049 4333082) for more details. |
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Select
Vestry meetings
Would members of
the Select Vestry please make a note of the following meetings.
All meetings will take place at 8.30pm on the given evening. |
| Date |
Time |
Vestry |
Location |
Thursday 16th October |
8.30 pm |
United |
Ballyconnell Minor Hall |
Tuesday 28th October |
8.30 pm |
Newtowngore |
Parish Hall |
Monday 10th November |
8.30 pm |
Kildallon |
Sunday School Room |
Tuesday 25th November |
8.30 pm |
Swanlinbar |
The Rectory |
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Sunday School Outing
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Just a short note to let you know some details about our forthcoming Sunday School Outing. This will be taking place on Saturday 1st November. The plan is for older children to go to Storm Cinemas in Cavan to watch a suitable movie with younger children going to Cool Kids activity centre in Cavan during the same period and then everyone will meet up at McDonalds to round off the day. All of this will be paid for out of our Forward funds. If you would like your child / children to attend then please let Carol Graham know (telephone 049 9523039).
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Samaritan’s Purse
This is a Christian organisation who through an annual shoe box appeal, have touched the lives of literally tens of thousands of children from under-privileged and deprived backgrounds in Eastern Europe at Christmas time. You will find enclosed with this Newsletter, a leaflet which explains how you can support this extremely worthy cause, but in summary the following are some pointers;
Get a shoe box;
Cover it in wrapping paper (wrap box and lid separately so that the lid can be lifted off);
Place a label on the outside of the box indicating what age group and gender the box has been prepared for;
Place suitable items in the box (details of suitable items can be found in the leaflet);
Place a donation towards covering transport costs in the box;
Bring you box/boxes along to Church on Sunday 26th Oct or get it to the Group Office during Surgery hours prior to that.
Pray that the gifts would bring joy to the lives of children who have little understanding of what that means. Please do support this worthy cause.
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New Sound System in TomRegan Church
Those of you who came to the last Harvest Festival service in Ballyconnell will have noticed the new sound system was working for the first time. For the benefit of hearing aid users we have installed as part of the new sound reinforcement system an Audio Frequency Induction Loop System usually known as a Hearing aid loop. Hearing aid users should switch their hearing aid to the Tele-coil or 'T' position to take advantage of the new system. which should provide clearer sound from the leader and less pick-up of background noise. Thanks are due to the Gallagher family of Cavanagah for this most generous gift in memory of their daughter Grace.
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Kinawley Bowling Club
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Members of Kinawley Bowling Club are reminded that bowling will commence again on Thursday 23rd October at 8 pm in St Paul's Church Hall, Kinawley.
New members would be very welcome. Anyone wishing to join, please ring Ray Humphreys on 07761780528, or just turn up at the hall on a Thursday night! |
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Templeport Development Association
To help fund their local activities the T.D.A. will be selling @templepoprt.ie email addresses. If you have a connection with Templeport and would like your.name@templeport.ie as your email address please visit their web site at www.templeport.ie for more information. |
your.name@templeport.ie |
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Newtowngore Annual Coffee Morning
The Annual Coffee Morning in Newtowngore Hall is on Saturday 8th November 2008 between 10 am & 1 pm – everyone welcome. Proceeds in aid of Cavan Cancer Home Care & North West Hospice. |
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Have You Anything You Can Contribute to this Newsletter?
If you have a digital camera or a camera on your mobile phone please take photographs of your local parish activities. We would love to hear from you or, just send your photos to the new office.
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Time for a smile?
The Things Kids Say.....
Melanie (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn’t remember any more. Melanie said, “If you don’t remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six.”
Britney (age 4) had an earache and wanted a pain killer. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mum explained it was a child-proof cap and she’d have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: “How does it know I’m a child?”
Susan (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. “Please don’t give me this juice again, “she said, “It makes my teeth cough.”
DJ (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: “How much do I cost?”
Clinton (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mum asked what was troubling him, he replied, “I don’t know what’ll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?”
James (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read, “The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.” Concerned, James asked: “What happened to the flea?”
Tammy (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mum knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, “Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?”
The Sermon I think this Mum will never forget... this particular Sunday sermon... “Dear Lord, “the minister began, with arms extended toward Heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face, “Without you, we are but dust”. He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four-year old girl voice, “Mum, what is butt dust?”
(Submitted by Simone Christie) |
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Informal Praise
Continues this evening in Ballyconnell Parish Church with Jeff Hamilton speaking on the theme of how we can engage in Mission in an overseas context. Jeff works with SAMS and is a young and vibrant speaker with a real passion for Jesus. This is the second in our series of sermons looking at Mission with the third and final evening coming up on Sunday 9th November in the Parish Church, Derrylin. The speaker that evening will be Canon David McClay from Willowfield Parish in East Belfast. David has a real passion for engaging with the local community and will be sharing with us some ways in which Willowfield Parish have done this. Of course the challenge for us is how we might do this in a culturally relevant way in our own particular context. Jesus had compassion for all people and it simply is not good enough to sit back and watch people wander aimlessly in our world when we know someone we believe they need to know. That is what Mission is all about, bringing the good news of Jesus to lost people. Please do come along to these services and perhaps be challenged regarding how we might develop our understanding of Mission.
Mission Night at Ballyconnell
During the summer months, 3 young people from our Group of Parishes left these shores to engage in Mission overseas. Bethany Wilson went to work in an orphanage in China with YWAM (Youth With A Mission); Dawn Cassidy went to work in an orphanage in Romania with a Diocesan Team; Mark Crawford went to work in Romania leading Bible Clubs with CE (Christian Endeavour). All three of them have stories to tell and they would love to share their experiences with you. So why not come along to Ballyconnell Parish Hall on Friday 17th October at 8 pm to hear them speak on their trips and to share in a bite of supper.
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Fashion Show
Ladies, don’t forget to get your ticket for our forthcoming Fashion Show in the Seven Horseshoes Hotel, Belturbet on Wednesday 5th November commencing at 8 pm. Tickets, priced at €10 can be obtained from any of our Forward! steering group but be advised that they are going briskly, so don’t delay!
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Mission Update
We had a great evening in the Parish Hall, Ballyconnell when representatives from both SAMS (South American Missionary Society) and Crosslinks shared with us how partnership in Mission might look for us in our context. Good questions were asked of both representatives and the general feeling was that what we saw and heard was encouraging and worthy of further enquiry. To that end, we will have a review of those presentations at our next meeting of our United Vestries in the Minor Hall, Ballyconnell at 8.30 pm on Thursday 16th October. The object of the second meeting on this subject is simply to get feedback from members on the first meeting and to begin to discern where God may be leading us in this crucial area of Mission. Please do make this meeting a priority in your diary as we need to have as much engagement and collaboration in this process as possible, otherwise there will not be ownership of whatever path we decide to follow. This next meeting will be a further opportunity to progress our discussion without having the pressure of decision-making in the back of our minds. |
Left: Dennis Johnston of SAMS
Right: Sam McGeown of Crosslinks |
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New Birth
Congratulations to Denise and Keith Richardson, Newtowngore on the birth of their second daughter, Rebecca. Upon seeing her little sister Hannah, aged just under 2, exclaimed “Oh Wow!!” Isn’t it amazing how even a young child can appreciate the miracle of new life and be pointed to an amazing Creator God who loves us beyond our wildest dreams.
We wish Denise and Keith every blessing as the whole family adjust to this new arrival and may they all continue to know God’s blessing in their lives as they nurture and care for both Hannah and Rebecca. |
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Baptisms
Congratulations to Wendy & Tom Munroe and Anne & Paul Burns on the recent baptism of their children in the Parish Church, Ballyconnell. It has to be said that both Ava & Patrick behaved impeccably with hardly as much as a whimper from either of them. We wish both families God’s blessing as parents and god parents now live up to the promises and faith they declared publicly and in so doing see their children grow in their love of Jesus. |
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Youth Group
Youth Fellowship commenced in October of last year and after a most encouraging start, tailed off towards the end of the year. Some of the comments which have filtered back are as follows;
Too frequent (3 times a month on a Sunday evening from 6.30 -8.30)
Too intense (even on the video night young people feel a bit pressurised)
Too much like school (some young people felt that the model reminded them too much of a Religious Education class in school).
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the model we adopted, it would appear that it did not have widespread appeal and did not scratch where young people are itching. It is crucial for our Church to make connections with all age groups, not least our young people. Making the right connections then gives us the platform to speak into the lives of young people and also be there to listen to them. Therefore there will be changes to the existing model, exactly what those changes will be are yet to be decided. But please do pray for this area of ministry, often neglected within our churches. It is hoped to resume our youth program commencing the 1st Sunday evening in November. |
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Did I Read That Sign Right
In a big department store: Toilet out of order. Please use floor below.
In a Laundromat: Automatic washing machines: please remove ALL your clothes when the light goes out.
In a London department store: Bargain basement upstairs
In an office: Would the person who took the step ladder yesterday please bring it back or further steps will be taken.
In an office canteen: After tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board
Outside a secondhand shop: We exchange anything — bicycles, washing machines, etc. Why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?
Notice in health food shop window: Closed due to illness
Spotted in a safari park: (I sure hope so) Elephants please stay in your car.
Seen during a conference: For anyone who has children and doesn’t know it, there is a day care centre on the 1st floor.
Notice in a farmer’s field: The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges.
Message on a leaflet: If you cannot read, this leaflet will tell you how to get lessons.
On a repair shop door: We can repair anything. (Please knock hard on the door — the bell doesn’t work.)
(Submitted by Simone Christie) |
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