News from Dane and Trent Circuit: and beyond

Buchaille Etive Mor As many in Holmes Chapel Methodist Church will know, Brian and I enjoy walking and have for many years walked with our friends Robert and Shirley. Often in recent years we have had a project of a long-distance path. The West Highland Way which follows Loch Lomond and continues up to Fort William is a favourite.

We are members of Congleton‘s U3A Thursday Walkers but sadly have not felt able to join them this last year. At first it seemed that our wings had been clipped but what a joy it has been to discover what is around us, often setting off from our doorstep, and how thankful we have been that we live in such a beautiful area. We have found footpaths we didn’t know existed and watched the delights of the changing seasons. Through fields freshly fertilised (farmyard aromas at their most pungent), young crops shooting up, maize reaching above our heads and the stubble of harvested wheat, we’ve witnessed the growing cycle.

Read more: The Donlons Go Walking

As we gradually learned to 'do church' in different ways to cope with the covid-19 virus, Christmas 2020 (and Harvest 2020) became very different events. Here are some examples of how Christmas was celebrated across the churches of Dane and Trent Circuit.

Bosley
Xmas 2020: an elf points the way On the afternoon of Sunday 13th December as many worshippers as we could safely accommodate gathered in Bosley chapel for our Advent Carol Service.

That same weekend the chapel was Xmas 2020: come to the Elf Trail involved with an exciting village event, in the form of a fund-raising Elf Trail for Bosley Bobkins, the school nursery. Based on the song ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, twelve clues to what makes a good Christmas were hidden around the village. Bosley Chapel had ‘The second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, two turtle doves in a pear tree‘. See the Bosley Photo Gallery. As luck would have it there was an ornamental pear tree in the graveyard on which we placed the two doves and hung pears and small elf boots with the word ‘Peace’ on their boot soles. A trail was made from the car park, with pointers. Over £200 was raised for the cause.

Trussell Trust logo As a consequence of COVID-19, those who rely on extra support to receive essential food and resources may find the next few months particularly difficult. Foodbanks are already beginning to be stretched as a result of the strain on resources.

As we seek to care for the vulnerable and at risk in our communities, supporting your local foodbank is a practical way to be of help. There are two key ways in which you can offer support:

Volunteer – the Trussell Trust is calling on working-aged people in good health to volunteer, to enable their services to remain open.
Donations – you can find lists of the resources your local foodbank particularly needs on their website.

Guidance on supporting your local foodbank

An appeal to churches from the Trussell Trust

Harvest Thanksgiving 2020

The restrictions due to COVID 19 made celebrating harvest in a traditional way more difficult this year but our churches came up with innovative ways of celebrating this important festival. Here are some of the ways that our churches celebrated.

Bosley

Bosley harvest 2020 1 Bosley harvest 2020 2 Visitors were welcomed as they arrived in the car park, with a leaflet explaining the ten themes of the “Giving Thanks” event and giving them a taste of the displays depicted inside.