Parish News
Lambeg Autumn Fayre
The Lambeg Harvest Fayre held in October last year was a great success, so much so that we are aiming to repeat the event this October. Please save the date for the 2024 Lambeg Harvest Fayre, which will be held, Lord willing, on Saturday 19th October from 10am to 2pm. Further details will be forthcoming in our Autumn magazine.
Hilden Primary School Renovation
The Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council received Lottery funding to refurbish and re-invigorate Hilden School. This will be starting soon. As part of the process, Lisburn’s Heritage and Museum Service will be working with the local community to keep them updated on the refurbishment. This includes a series of meetings open to the public and local community over the period of the refurbishment.
The first of such meetings will be held in the Hilden Centre on Thursday evening, June 13th beginning at 7pm to around 9pm.
If you are interested in this project and want to hear more about it from the Heritage and Museum Service, do please come along on the night.
Mens Society
Our last meeting on March 4th was well attended by both the Mothers’ Union and ourselves
It was a full house and Mark Davidson gave us a great insight into his holiday at the frozen South Pole. A good night was had by all.
Our next outing is on Friday the 17th May when we are going to Stormont for Lunch and a guided tour. Sounds like event not to be missed- so please contact Mr. Stephen Shaw if you are interested to come along with any guests as places may be limited.
After our last meeting we thought that the Mothers’ Union and ourselves would benefit by inviting the other ( in several ways)and a continuing dialogue would be beneficial.
Needles and Pins
Needles and Pins meet on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 10:30 in the Hilden Centre. Since September we have produced over 400 knitted or crocheted items. This includes Trauma Teddies, garments for babies in the Neo Natal unit, grieving gowns, and hats etc for the homeless. It is very encouraging to see so many ladies coming each week. This year we added an extra table to accommodate everyone. We have more tables to add so if you enjoy knitting, crocheting or just a chat you will be very welcome.
Girls Brigade
We just finished our GB season on Friday 26th April with our annual display. The display was well attended by parents, family and friends and the Rectors wife, Hazel presented the awards. The girls had worked very hard for the display and presented a varied programme which included PE, Dance, Singing and Verse Speaking.
Our Under 5’s and Explorers did an Under the Sea item and we had girls dressed as Sailors, Mermaids, Jelly fish and Sharks. The Officers and Company section did their own version of the Masked dancer. The officers were dressed in head to foot costumes and a small panel assisted by the audience had to guess who were behind the masks. We had a dinosaur, Lobster, Alien, Clown and Penguin. All the Officers were accompanied by girls from Juniors upwards who were the background dancers.
Although our display comprised mainly of the PE element of our programme, our weekly programme also comprises of Scripture, Badgework/craft, sport and games. I would like to thank Muriel Abernethy for taking the Senior girls for Scripture this year again. I would also like to thank Hilary Shaw who joined us this year to take the Juniors for Scripture. Thanks also to Amy Phillips who takes the Explorer class. At the end of February we had our annual Scripture exam and the marks in all sections were very good.
In January we had a pottery workshop for the Juniors upwards. Andrea McCullough-Alderdice from Relatively Ceramics visited the Company and the girls had a great night making lovely ceramic heart shaped ornaments. In March we had a self-defence class for the Seniors and Brigaders which they found very useful and enjoyable.
I would like to thank the Officers; Amy, Claire, Donna, Jennifer, Jill, Neve and Nicole for all their hard work during the year and their ongoing commitment. Thank you also to Megan Hewitt and Emily Mayne who help with the girls on a Saturday morning. Thank you also to Isobel Lee and Linda Murphy, our President and Vice President who continue to support us.
Finally, I would like to thank the parents for bringing the girls so faithfully every week and for supporting us in all that we do. Without the girls and support from the parents we wouldn’t have a GB company. Thank you also to the Rector who visits every Wednesday and does an opening talk and prayer.
We look forward to seeing all the girls again in September and we would love to welcome some new members. If you know of anyone who would be interested in joining, please pass on may details.
Church Lads Brigade
I would like to thank all the boys and parents who supported the the Church Lads Brigade and give a big thanks to Margaret, Myles and David for their help.
Hopefully we will start again in September with a few more new boys.
David Smyth (Captain)
Mothers Union
We started off the New Year with a ‘Bring and Buy’ sale and raised money for our funds. We ended up the evening playing a game of Beetle Drive and the two winners received chocolates for their efforts.
Due to the inclement weather we were unable to hold our February meeting but kept in touch with members by email.
The members attended the Holy Week service on 25 March.
We had a most interesting talk on 8 April about Belfast in the 1950s . It was great to recall the happy memories we had of those days and how things had changed. All enjoyed tea and cake afterwards. It was decided as we had some items that could be used to make up wash bags that we would meet on 29 April as the RVH were in need. With members donations of items and cash we were able to make 75 bags and these will be delivered as soon as possible. Once again we thank our very generous members and parishioners who so willingly donate to this cause. We are currently collecting clothing for the homeless and they have requested socks in particular.
We hope to have tea and coffee and scones or tray breaks at Laganvale on 15 May and to have an outing to the Boulevard in June.
New members are always welcome.
Parents and Toddlers
As we prepare to take our summer break at the end of May we are very thankful for the good numbers joining us this year and for the good friendships that have been forged in the midst of all the mayhem and fun that we’ve all enjoyed on Tuesday mornings.
We will be sorry to say goodbye to some regulars who will be moving on to nursery but we hope to welcome new members when we come back for the autumn season in September.
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
Hi every one. We, at Open House, have continued as always to have fun , fellowship and great craic with our Quiz.
The ladies in the kitchen look after us well and ,thanks to everyone’s generosity, we continue to be able support our Church and some charitable organisations. And we’ve been joined this year by Rev. David Luckman, our church planter and pastor in Hilden
Open House will finish on the last Thursday in May but will continue to meet up once a month during the Summer, starting back on the 2nd Thursday in September at 10am to 12 noon.
Finally we would once again like to take this opportunity to invite others in the Parish to come and join us, you’ll be warmly welcomed.
Victor, Helen and Nan