Parish News
Mens Society
The Mens’ Society met on Monday 6th March with an excellent turn out of men from the parish to hear Rev. Chris Pierce speak about ‘Walking with Jesus in a Tree Suit’ (camouflage). Rev. Pierce spoke about his experience as a Sergeant in the US Army, with special reference to the 1990 war in Iraq. He gave us details of his life, how he felt called to ministry from an early age but tried to run away from that call – a bit like Jonah! – ending up in a variety of jobs, from the musical industry in Nashville Tennessee to the US Army in Germany and Iraq. It was a fascinating talk, highlighting God’s leading and guiding in our lives. It was much appreciated by all, and the outcome of the meeting a great encouragement to all involved.
Then next meeting of the Mens’ Society is to provide the hot-cross buns at the Good Friday evening service! The next meeting after that is a day trip on May Day, Monday 1st May, to visit the Ulster Aviation hangers with a guided tour followed by dinner. Approximate cost for the day is £20 per person. Please contact Mr. Stephen Shaw for any further details. All welcome.
Needles and Pins
Needles and Pins continue to meet on the first and third Wednesday of the month in Hilden from 10:30 – 12:00. Members are knitting a variety of items. Some are currently knitting trauma teddies for the Children’s Hospital at the Royal Victoria site. Trauma teddies can be given as a simple distraction to help take a child’s focus away from potentially upsetting circumstances and turn the experience into something positive. At present we have 16 members. We would welcome new members and it is not necessary to be an experienced knitter. Just come along and enjoy the company, fellowship and of course a cup of tea!
Girls Brigade
We continue to meet on a Wednesday night and Saturday morning and have a varied programme for the girls which includes PE, Scripture, Games and Craft. The Juniors upwards had their Scripture tests on Wednesday 22nd February and they all passed with flying colours. Sincere thanks to Muriel Abernethy for taking the Seniors and Brigaders for Scripture every week and thanks also to Reah Lee for taking the Juniors. We are now preparing for our GB display which is to be held on Friday 28th April at 7.30pm. This is the first display we have been able to have in 4 years due to Covid 19. To help with the preparations we have extended our sessions on a Saturday morning and now meet from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Thank you to the Officers and helpers who attend faithfully every week , or in most cases twice a week. We wouldn’t be able to have a GB Company without them. We will be off for Easter for 1 week only on Wednesday 5th April and Saturday 8th April. We finish for the summer at the end of April and would love to welcome some new members when we start back in September again.
CLB
The Church Lads Brigade are having a Parents’ Night on Thursday 30th march. At this time, I would like to thank all parents for supporting the CLB this year. Especially, the Church owes a debt of gratitude to David Smyth, Margaret Strong, and Myles Gordon for giving the time to support the boys. Congratulations also the boys of Y-team, who took part in a unihoc competition and came third in the tournament. Well done lads! Hopefully, they will have a good result in the 5-aside football competition in March.
Mothers Union
The Mothers Union started the New Year with a Bring and Buy Sale on 9 January 2023 and raised £48 for our funds. The evening finished with tea and cake. Our next project was to make up wash bags for the RVH A&E and on Wednesday 15 February the members gathered in the Minor Hall to fill these bags with items donated or purchased with money donated. The items were laid out on tables with chairs around and the ladies set to filling the bags with a toothbrush, toothpaste , soap ,facecloth, comb and tissues. We also included a prayer card and details of our Branch. To our outmost surprise when we counted the bags we found that we were able to fill 158 bags. As the RVH A&E were in dire need for these items they were gratefully collected that evening and available for distribution the next day. Tea and cake was again served during the afternoon to keep our willing workers energised to complete their task.
We have also donated over 300 Items to the Lisburn Food Bank this year and they were gratefully received. Again we thank our Treasurer Dorothy Jackson who delivers the food items every week. The Food Bank have again emphasised that they continue to meet an increased demand. Please leave any items at the back of the Church and remember pet food etc as sometimes pets are the only company that people have. I thank you all in advance for your continued support to our community.
Our Next Meetings will be held on Monday 13 March when a member from the NI Tourist Board will come to talk to us and on Monday 3 April we will attend the Church Service.
We welcome new members to attend our meetings.
Parents and Toddlers
Numbers attending our Toddlers Group continue to be very encouraging. Equally encouraging are the friendships that are developing among the adults as well as the wee ones. The craft slot has really taken off this year and we are grateful to Sharon and Judith for all their creative ideas. Singing and music making remain very popular and we definitely have some budding talent, especially in the percussion section! All in all we have a lot of fun together every Tuesday morning.
Ingrid, Judith, Muriel and Sharon
Tea and Coffee
Beginning on March 5th and continuing, Lord willing, on each first Sunday of the month, we have begun serving tea and coffee after the 11am service as a means of extending on-going fellowship amongst church people. This will be a time to chat, to listen, to encourage one another, and to spend a bit of time to catch up on what’s happening, as well as to greet newcomers and visitors.`
Change of time for early morning communion service.
Following a recent meeting of the Select Vestry, it was agreed to change the time of the early morning communion service from the Covid-time of 8.30am to 9.00am. This later start will help both parishioners in Lambeg and enable the Rector to fulfil his pastoral responsibility to them and to the parishioners who go to the 10am Hilden service. This new time will come into operation on the second Sunday in October (9th).
‘Empire Sunday’ Orange Service
After an absence of a few years, mainly due to Covid, we are pleased to host the annual Orange Service on ‘Empire Sunday’ 28th May at 3.30pm in the parish church. We are delighted to welcome as our Guest speaker the Rev. Chris Pierce.
Open House
Open House, started back in early January after our Christmas break.
We continue to have great fun and fellowship together, often over tea and biscuits, going over old times and generally putting the world to rights. Everyone enjoys the quiz , a bit of general knowledge, some bible questions and a few brain teasers all very light hearted, then a quick wordsearch before sitting down for a hot meal together.
Thanks to the generosity of our members we are also able to support our Church and charities like The Leprosy mission, Friends of the Cancer Centre and Alzheimer’s. So we would once again like to take this opportunity to invite you to come along and join us on Thursday mornings 10am to 12noon at the Hilden Centre. You will be very warmly welcomed by everyone.
Victor, Helen and Nan