BIRDSEDGE

Pat Wood took the family service at Birdsedge Church. She told two stories, the ‘five loaves and two fishes’ and ‘the widow who helped Elijah’. A game of musical chairs with A4 sheets of paper was used to show sharing. When one sheet of paper was taken out of the ring there was always another person ready to share their paper. Pat had found and bought a very small loaf and made cut-out fishes from Madeira cake to demonstrate with. The cake was enjoyed with coffee after the service. ‘God rewards us when we do as he asks’, as happened to the widow when she fed Elijah with the last of her oil and flour, led to discussions of how people had experienced this. Leslie Sullivan will take the next service.

The attendance at the village hall AGM was disappointing but happily brought three new members to the committee. A lot of discussion as to how and what sort of events could be popular with villagers went on. Committee members offered to go door to door to find out what would tempt people in the village to visit the hall.

A meeting to discuss this year’s festival will be held tomorrow in the bar at the hall, and discussions will be held about next year’s event. People interested in helping will be welcome.

Quiz Night is on Friday August 30th 8pm.

Tickets are on sale for the Comedy Night September 14th at £15 each. There will be two comedians with food and bar available throughout. Ring 604289.

For information about events at the hall see the web site www.birdsedgevillagehall.co.uk or ring 604289.

The Kirkwood Hospice Support Group strawberry teas final total was £398. The August Bank Holiday lunch event on the 26th will take place at the church. Volunteers have come forward to help

CLAYTON WEST

The Churches Together Holiday Club held their service at the Methodist Church last Sunday. At the end of a very successful week of activities for 50 to 60 children each day. Helpers from all the churches were involved and the children enjoyed every minute. The theme was 'Space' and bible stories, including Daniel in the Lions Den kept the children busy with various planned activities on different themes. During the morning service the children told what they had being doing, and at the end of each day the songs and prayers were held in the church. Every day trips and involvement in activities were enjoyed. The special trip being a visit to Wakefield Cathedral, recently re-opened after renovations. A very happy and uplifting week, thank you to all who helped in any way.

On Wednesday 7th August Clayton West WI held their meeting. Miranda Auckland was the speaker and gave a talk about her recent visit to the Gujurat in India on a textile tour. She talked about the things she saw and did and showed samples of fabrics and other items that she had brought back. This was followed with refreshments and a raffle. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 4th September.

DENBY DALE

The service at Zion Wesleyan Reform Chapel on Sunday evening was led by Barry Parker who spoke about having the faith of Abraham and trusting in God. The Bible was read by Cynthia Nuttall and the pianist was John Orton. A family Barbecue will be held on Friday evening from 6-8pm. Next Sunday the friends from Bow Broom Chapel Swinton will be visiting. There will be a Buffet Tea at 4pm and Jean Waterfield will lead worship at 6pm.

SKELMANTHORPE

Skelmanthorpe Wives’ Group had an interesting talk by Colin Preston of Clayton West about his role at the London 2012 Olympic Games as a Volunteer/Games Maker. Colin told the group about the workings behind the games and how, in his role as a Volunteer/Games Maker, he was in charge of the Hockey Teams. He showed the group the Games Makers’ uniform, displayed some accessories and memorabilia and gave an on-screen slideshow of the Olympics. Colin mentioned that after the Olympics had finished, he stayed on to volunteer at the Paralympics Games. He will also be attending the Commonwealth Games in the summer of 2014 in Glasgow. The evening was arranged by the hosts, Edna Fisher, Susan Radley and Joan Grainger, who also provided refreshments. Christine Senior played the piano.