Round the Diocese
April 2009 from Lucy Miller of St. Michael's in Newhaven
Our church parenting group was keen to do the Family Caring Trust
0-6's parenting course. In the family resources booklet written by the Atherstones I saw that the Mother's Union could provide a facilitator. This has been wonderful -it has made all the difference to have her experience and input. The course itself was excellent and we particularly enjoyed the discussions and skills' practice (done with a lot of laughter!). By the time we had finished our group was very keen to do another and we are now doing the Parent Assertiveness course. I think we'd all say that we are growing more confident in our parenting and that we feel encouraged and less alone. Both courses have an (optional) spiritual reflection at the end of the sessions which is well-written and very powerful.
April 2008 from St Swithun's East Grinstead
Our church held a 'Celebration of Marriage' service last Sunday, to which all couples who were married in the church during the past year, had been personally invited. Anyone else, of course was also welcomed.
Mary Smith, our Diocesan President, who also happens to be a member of our branch, had a brilliant idea. It was to produce small cards with the Mothers Union logo on the front with the addition of : 'From St Swithun's Mothers Union' underneath, and on the reverse a copy of the 'Prayer for Marriage' (No. 57 in 'The Prayers we Breathe'). These were given out to each couple to keep. They all seemed very pleased with them and we felt it was a way of advertising our existence.
The Mothers' Union had also been asked to serve the refreshments afterwards and this gave us a chance to talk to those present and tell them what marriage meant to us. Actually, the fact that there weren't too many present - and all who attended came to the refreshments too - made it so much more personal and gave us a greater chance to talk to everyone.
We asked if we could have this event during National Marriage Week another year, and it was agreed that the clergy should involve the Mother's Union members in the service (we have over 40 members) as Marriage is such an important part of our organisation. We were pretty pleased at this as we do not feel we feel we are valued as much as we should be - except for serving refreshements!!
Wendy Gould (Mothers' Union St Swithun's Branch, East Grinstead - also Diocesan rep for Overseas).
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February 2008 from St. Leonard's and St.Luke's Seaford
For National Marriage Week we organised two events:
Firstly we invited couples married in the church in the previous few years to come to a meal one evening, to celebrate their marriages and to renew their vows if they would like to.
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Secondly we were given sole use of a local restaurant on Valentine's Day, and had 24 couples from the congregation coming to enjoy a meal together, in a romantic setting.
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November 2007 from the church of St. Andrew in Alfriston
"We had a Reunion for couples married in our church this year at the Smugglers. We organised a generous amount of cheese, crisps, chips, fruit, sausage rolls, fruit juice and water and some bought beer from the bar. "
Couples were each given enough cards, a different colour for each couple, to fill in and give to each other couple. On the cards they filled in their names and marriage dates, what the bride and groom wore, and the funniest thing that happened on their wedding day. They spent time discussing these with each other, and this really worked to get things started.
After the general mixing the leaders led a discussion on 3 questions:
- How did they get on with wedding preparation? (including the rehearsal)?
- How was the day itself from the aspect of what the church provided?
- What do they feel about the church generally, particularly in regard to Sunday worship?
Those who attended were extremely positive both about the evening and all that the church had done in preparation for their special days. They enjoyed showing each other photos of their weddings and it was noticed that email addresses were being exchanged. In fact the couples expressed a wish that they could have met in this way at the beginning of the year, before their weddings. So the evening was very positive, both for the couples and the leaders, who said they found it "altogether - very uplifting."