Become a Dementia Friend – Update

More open sessions of dementia training to accredit people as Dementia Friend’s and support people living with Dementia in maintaining their spirituality and faith.

The sessions are accredited by the Alzheimer’s Society, and at the end of the session you will be given your official badge to wear with pride.

The two sessions will take place at the Holy Trinity Centre, North Ormesby, and will be held on Thursday 10th March 10-12.30 and Tuesday 15th March 7-9.30 pm. There are 20 places for each session so please book a place via Heather Black or Maddy Fischer at the Holy Trinity Centre, North Ormesby, on 01642 286122

Become a Dementia Friend

An open session of dementia awareness, accredited by the Alzheimer’s Society, will be held on Tuesday 2nd February 10am at St Cuthberts’ Church, Church Lane, Ormesby. The session will be repeated at 5.30 pm. The sessions are 1.5 hrs each and are part of a government initiative to make towns and cities dementia friendly. The sessions are informative and will accredit each attendee as a Dementia Friend and you will be given your official badge to wear with pride.

This open session encourages the local community and their friends to attend.

Alzheimer’s Research UK presents #sharetheorange

Lent Group

There will be a Lent Group at the Vicarage on Thursday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. It will run from 11th Feb until 17th March. Please bring a Bible, notepad & pen/pencil, reading glasses(!) and a sense of humour!

As of last year, the invitation extends to anyone at St Cuthberts Ormesby and Holy Trinity North Ormesby.

Please let Revd Jen know if you would like to join us. All are very welcome

The Vicarage
54 Church Lane
Ormesby. TS7 9AU
Tel: 01642 901482
Email: vicar@stcuthbertsormesby.org.uk

The Vicarage driveway can easily fit 5-6 cars.

An Introduction to Centering Prayer, St Gabriel’s Church, Saturday 23rd January, 10am – 4pm

Contemplative Outreach

Contemplative Outreach logo

An Introduction to Centering Prayer

Centering Prayer is an opening of the heart and mind to God beyond concepts, words and images. Based on a centuries old tradition of Christian prayer, it has been developed to meet contemporary needs. This one day workshop will include instruction in the method of Centering Prayer; we also offer six further (and shorter) sessions, which build on the ground covered in the workshop.

All are welcome: no previous experience is required.

Further details: (in new and old Word doument formats)
Centering Prayer Day information (docx)
Centering Prayer Day information (doc)

St Gabriel’s Church, Allendale Road, Ormesby,
Middlesbrough TS7 9LF

Saturday 23rd January, 10am – 4pm.

Refreshments provided but please bring a packed lunch.

Parking is available at the church

Cost: Donation

For further information please contact
Canon John Lumley canonlumley@gmail.com
Tel: (01642) 314501

Dementia-Friendly Carol Service

On December 15th, a carol service was held at Holy Trinity church, North Ormesby, which was led by the Revd Jennifer Croft, the Vicar of St Cuthbert’s Church Ormesby. We were blessed by the presence of the Bishop of Whitby, the Rt. Revd. Paul Ferguson; who gave us his blessing. Also, as part of his pilgrimage around the Diocese of York, His Grace the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu called in to greet those who had attended the service.

Revd Jen and Archbishop Sentamu

Archbishop Sentamu (l) and Revd Jen

“Well it is that time of year!“ you might say, but this service was for people living with Dementia and their carers. It was an idea that evolved from an ‘off the cuff remark’ during a “Singing for the Brain” session (supported by the Alzheimer’s Society) some several weeks earlier; which of course, led to a meaningful event that was greatly appreciated and enjoyed by all.

Val and Hillary sml

The Revd Jennifer Croft, who delivered the service and is part of the working group, was perfect as she had a good understanding of Dementia. The service was very tactile, visual and interactive, with a memory to take home in the form of a small cross with a prayer and there was an order of service, which also offered a visual reminder of the event. Memories were clear about the story of Jesus as people nodded and smiled at the readings and graphics on the large screen. It was wonderful to see people singing the Christmas carols without the need to read either the screen or the service book!

There was an abundance of helpers who all understood the need to make everyone’s day meaningful and had the skills to do so. There were volunteers who welcomed and greeted people and chatted with them, and they made people feel ‘included’ prior to the service. The organist played traditional carols and people sang spontaneously even before the service started.

‘ASDA Foundation’ offered to be a sponsor for this event and they supplied the food and drink for the festive tea afterwards and a gift of shortbreads to take home. There were several people preparing and serving tea and cakes afterwards. Some wore a traditional frilly white apron which created conversations of the 50’s and of tea rooms that folks frequented!

There was lots of laughter, smiles and contented faces at the end of the day, truly reflecting the spirit of Christmas. This was reinforced by many positive comments, such as:

“We really appreciated it, as it was the only Carol service we will be able to get to this year due to accessibility and crucially, time of day.“

“I could feel the joy you all had in what you were doing and how it reflected onto the people who had come along.”

“I wouldn’t use the word enjoy I would say overwhelmed by love and kindness, thank you for such a wonderful afternoon.”

One gentleman was a little agitated by small children at the rear of the church but when one of the children climbed up on to the chair next to him, he immediately went into a nurturing mode, smiled and made sure the child was OK.

There was a wonderful memory of where the vicar showed a picture of the peaceful Bethlehem with the star above the stable; and she asked what the picture reminded them of, and a little girl came up to the front and called out “Cinderella!” It was lovely!

During the last prayer, we held hands and it was a true picture of comfort and contentment. A wonderful experience for all!

This is the beginning of something beautiful in the diocese with churches working together making sure all significant christian calendar events are covered using varying venues to promote inclusion and equity. It is the beginning of Middlesbrough being a dementia friendly town.

Christmas Services

The Services taking place over the Christmas Period are shown on the Flyer below.
The information is also accessible on the Christmas Page – under Service Details on menu and there is a link in the Welcome section on the Home page.

Christmas 2015 flyer3

Revd Carol Sunley, Associate Minister

We welcome back Revd Carol Sunley as Associate Minister here at St Cuthberts Church, Ormesby. There will be a Licensing Service for Revd Sunley at 6:00pm on Wednesday 16th December 2015. We hope that you will join us to celebrate her new role in our Community.

Beating the Parish Bounds

Update

Jen, Lesley, Martin, Kay (and Millie), Trish, and Anne would like to thank you all for helping us to raise a grand total of £330.00 for the roof and restoration fund. Its never too late to donate!!!!

Thank you

Jen, Lesley, Kay, Martin, Trish, Anne and not forgetting Millie the dog, all set off at 09:00hrs for our rogation walk and arrived home tired but happy 4 hrs and a minute later having covered about 12 miles.

We negotiated, mud, leaves, traffic a few Santa clauses on motorbikes, a giant 6 foot Disney mouse (Don’t ask?) another ‘Jen’s Joke’ for a Sunday in the future thanks to a parishioner in Netherfield’s.

We laughed, joked, chatted, prayed, especially to St Anthony to find Jen’s lost legs?

We enjoyed some lovely views, spoke to some lovely people and managed to raise some money for a little effort.

We will collate the total for next week, but to press the amount is £200.00 with more pledges to gather in.

There will be a box at the back of the church on Sunday if you still wish to donate