Hadfield Methodist Church - Newsletter

October 2024:
	October in New Zealand O June has her diamonds, her diamonds of sheen, Meet for a queen’s neck, if Death had e’er a queen! June has her blue days, jewels of delight, Set in the ivory of Alp-land white,— But October, October’s the lady o’ the year! O January’s garland is redder than the rose, And the wine-red ruby of January glows All the way to madness and half the way to sin, When sleep is in the poppy and fire is in the whin! But October, October’s the lady o’ the year! October will ride in a mantle o’ the vair, With the flower o’ the quince in her dew-wet hair; October will ride to the gates of the day, With the bluebells ringing on her maiden way;— For October, October’s the lady o’ the year! Jessie Mackay (1864 - 1938) New Zealand Source: The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. Walter Murdoch comp., H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1918
Ministerial arrangements
We are incredibly thankful to Rev. Roger Walton returned to active ministry to tide us over (and also Central Methodist, Glossop) whilst new minsiterial arrangements were sorted out. From September we welcome Rev. Hazel Cook (who is also the Ciruit's Superintendent Minister). We have known her for many years, and many years ago she was our minister, so we are very happy for her to return to this role. You can find out more about her on the minister's page, here.
Book Launch We were proud to have hosted a book launch by a local author, Janet Lees. Her book is called Come Wind, Come Weather. It's about her pligrimage from Land's End to John O'Groats, including her thoughts and prayers about the envrionment along the way, and is available here.
Repair Cafe	Click on photo for full size)
Thanks to our repairers for everything they did on Saturday 21st Sepetember at the repair café, it was a busy session as usual. The sewers were kept busy throughout, and there were several items Several electrical items were brought in, inclding many table lamps. The photos which appear in the photos here are from previous sessions. This month's session is on 19th October and is a very special one. 19th October is also International Repair Day, and it is the 15th anniversary of the International Repair Café movement. Hadfield Repair Café will be celebrating, and as part of our regular, monthly session, we are inviting anyone to take part in our quiz and have a brew and a slice of birthday cake, all for free. As usual we will be providing free repairs, so come along engage your brain, enjoy refreshments, and save some pennies and some carbon! (10am to 1pm last repairs accepted at 12.30pm) Hadfield Repair Café was launched in May 2022. We will look at almost anything that can be carried through our door. We have a team of skilled and friendly repairers that carry out a wide range of repairs including to electrical and electronic repairs, sewing, knife and garden tool sharpening, furniture and an interesting range of miscellaneous repairs. We are always happy to welcome new volunteers either as repairers or in the kitchen. In the last 12 months we have fixed 170 items, which according to the International Repair Café Carbon Calculator has saved 2,942.9 kg of CO2 which is equivalent to that produced by driving 12,221 miles or showering 1,839 times or flying 17,945 miles. If you fancy volunteering as a repairer - especially if you have electrical skills - please get in touch, either in person at one of our sessions, or email us.
Monthly Eco-tip
We are proud to be an Eco-church (we have the A Rocha Silver award). As part of this commitment we are staring a monthly section in our newsletter with an eco-tip. We hope that readers will find this useful, and perhaps something you can put into action. October's eco-tip: Falling leaves are the first signal of the arrival of the autumn season. Many see this as an additional chore, as they would tend to rake leaves and throw piles of them away. Instead, consider leaving leaves on your lawn. Dead leaves are an important part of the natural cycles of plants and soil. Plants emerge from the soil, die, decay, and return to the soil, providing carbon that contributes to the soil ecology and encourages healthy microbial activity. The removal of dead leaves from this cycle can actually diminish the soil's health. Then, what are you supposed to do instead? Because large heaps of leaves can cause dead grass patches in your lawn, it would be ideal to mulch them and spread them evenly across your yard. Mulched leaves can also be piled around the bases of trees or on top of flower beds and gardens. This will help insulate the soil over the winter, protecting the soil's microbial life.
Toddler Group – Can you help
Bruce and Elspeth, David and Anne do a fantastic job with the toddlers but we do need some extra helpers if it is to happen every week. So if you can offer to help with Toddlers (we need cover about once every three weeks), please contact us as soon as possible. The group will re-open after the summer break in September.
Youth Club
Our youth club, called Youth Station, has run for many years with ups and downs in numbers of children attending. Currently there is plenty of space for new members, so if you have or know of children between 8 to 13 who might like like attend, see the Children & Young People page for details.
Thursday opening times We continue to open the church as a free community meeting place on Thursdays, serving free refreshments. For the present we have reduced the opening times to 10:15am-2:00pm and are serving food. We will continue to monitor the need and will extend the times again if it seems appropriate More details available on our Resources page. Help wanted! Obviously this kind of provision will only work if there are people to help run it. We are looking for volunteers who can help out (it doesn't have to be every week). If you think you can help, please get in touch by email at hadfieldcommunityspaces@gmail.com.