“Living for Christ at the heart of the community"

Connexion Zone @ Christ Church

For some time now, Connexion Zone has been an initiative run by John Spencer, myself, and a handful of volunteers. It grew from the ‘Pram Service’ we hosted, with nursery and reception children from Barnacre Road School and the 2toSchool Playgroup which meets on our premises – and became ‘Connexion Zone’ in order to develop it into a programme of outreach to children in the community. As we are all aware, the lack of children and young people in our Sunday morning worship is a cause of sadness and concern – but it is not one that we face alone. The amount of choice that children and families face these days is enormous – sports and recreational activities, family time, all make demands on what little free time people have – and often coming to the traditional Sunday morning worship Read more

By helen, ago

Musings From The Manse: Winter 2012

Dear Friends, One of the main difficulties faced by some churches today is the reality of an aging congregation and a lack of younger people willing to help out or take over key roles. It can be a real problem – not just when it comes to mission, but also to the nurture and growth of those within the faith community. Sadly, at Christ Church, we are not immune to this. More and more we are finding that the things we want to do are made more difficult by a lack of those who are able to do them. So either we do less, or we concentrate on doing what we can, not by looking to one or two individuals, but by taking a few lessons from Geese……! ‘Lessons from Geese provides a perfect example of the importance of team Read more

By helen, ago

November Ramble – Martin Mere

The Martin Mere Wetland Centre, situated between Preston and Southport, is a well-known and splendid place for bird watching and a good location to start our walk. Before stating, we had a look around. The centre attracts many species of bird, particularly vast numbers of Pink Footed Geese and Whooper Swans, together with Bewick Swans, Harriers, Bullfinches, Common Crane and many others. The first part of the walk took us over a number of well drained fields with easy walking. This part of Lancashire is very flat! The fields eventually gave way to quiet country lanes. We passed a charming country pub and restored farmhouses and finally came to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, following the tow path for a couple of miles. Our lunch stop was by a swing bridge, sat facing the warm sun and watching the various Read more

By The Editor, ago

October Ramble – Grizedale Bridge

The October walk was one of the many variations on the Nicky Nook theme, an area that is always popular. The original plan was to start from Garstang, but this would have been a little too long, so a Scorton start was decided on, which would bring the distance to our usual seven miles. Leaving the village, we turned into Snowhill lane and the long slog over the M6 and up to the start of the climb over Nicky Nook Fell. The path up the fell is quite steep, but we soon made the top and the famous trig. point. The early rain had now stopped and we were able to have our photograph taken in the pleasant sunshine. Now, it was down the fell to Grize Dale, followed by a stroll along this lovely path as far as the Read more

By The Editor, ago

September Ramble – Chorley Circular

A decade ago, the local council organized a good, well signed route around Chorley, but the information is now somewhat out of date, creating some navigational challenges in places. Starting from a lay-by on the A6, our little party quickly joined the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and headed north, enjoying good walking weather, warm and sunny. After half a mile, we left the canal, walked through woods to the A6, which we crossed to enter Duxbury Park and enjoyed a pleasant stroll through Duxbury woods. Eventually, we left the woods and climbed a steep banking and followed a series of paths to emerge at the Yarrow Valley Country Park and our lunch stop on a seat overlooking the lake. Considering that this area used to be a large dye works, the transformation to a nature reserve is remarkable. Lunch over, Read more

By The Editor, ago

Musings from the Manse: Autumn 2012

Dear Friends, What is the wise way to spend your time? This was a question that came up recently when I was looking at the lectionary readings for Sunday worship, and it made me realise that probably a good use of time is to acquire wisdom! The apostle Paul advised the Ephesians, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time…” Wisdom, though, isn’t just about being clever or gaining knowledge, it’s often about having a bit of common sense – for instance, we have the knowledge to understand that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable…but common sense tells us that it’s better to serve them with a salad than to cover them in custard! The antithesis of wisdom is foolishness, and Paul goes on to say, Read more

By helen, ago

Are You Housebound?

At the last Church Council, we discussed a number of ideas to help those of our readers who would dearly like to attend church services, but cannot manage to get here anymore. First of all, we would remind anyone who has a problem that there are people who are willing to provide lifts so don’t be embarrassed —- if you would like a lift to church, please speak to your pastoral visitor (who brings your magazine) or a member of the church council whose phone numbers are in the church directory. However, for those who really cannot get to church at all, we discussed the possibility of recording one service each Sunday. This would require a bit of organising and we would need to get the right equipment, so we really need to know if this is something which would Read more

By The Editor, ago

Music in the Afternoon

Visitors from the East received a warm welcome at Christ Church on July 8th for the third edition of the ‘Music in the Afternoon’ series. The South Pennine Singers, a 24 strong chamber choir whose members, are mainly from Burnley, Rossendale and Pendle Districts of the County performed a wide ranging quality programme of both choral and solo items under the direction of Geoff Balson, their founder and musical director. Originally a group of music teachers who came together for the pleasure of singing in 1988, the choir membership has now widened and presents about twelve concerts a year. The concert began with a spontaneous outburst of ‘Canticorum Jubilo’ from Handel’s Oratorio Judas Maccabeus. This was then followed by two anthems by the popular choral composer John Rutter, in which they quickly demonstrated their fine choral strength and balanced sound. Read more

By The Editor, ago