Patronal Festival in the Kepier Hall

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As we celebrated St Michael and All Angels this Sunday we gathered in the Kepier Hall for our worship followed by a bring and share lunch. We were joined by Heather and Peter Keogh who used to be regular attenders before moving to Cumbria; they brought along a beautiful cake for everyone to share. There was some hearty singing and we all enjoyed a thought provoking sermon from Roz Pickersgill. After the service we moved through into the Davidson Suite for coffee before returning to the main hall for a wonderful spread.


Huge thanks to everyone who helped to set up, served coffee and prepared food.

Bishop Paul Presides & Preaches at Harvest Festival

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We always have our Harvest Festival a little early at St Michael’s because of our Patronal Festival and Houghton Feast and it was a delight to welcome Bishop Paul this morning to preside and preach. People were very generous with their gifts of canned and dried food which will be given to help replenish the Space4 food cupboard and gifts of money which will be donated to a charity that gives aid to Rohingya refugees.
Bishop Paul talked about our response to the graft that it takes to grow, harvest and produce our food suggesting that we need to give thanks, be generous and to graft ourselves. He went on to say that we need to graft to challenge unfair systems and practices that endanger our planet and the well being of those who inhabit it. We all enjoyed some informal chat over coffee and biscuits after the service.

Weddings at St Michael’s

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We have had some beautiful weddings over the Summer period here at St Michael’s. It has been a huge delight to welcome Channing & Keegan, Rebecca & Alex, Sarah & Paul and Emma & Wayne with their friends and families to this stunning church and I am sure they will all agree they were made to feel very welcome on their special day and the lead up to it. To book your wedding here come along to vestry hour between 6pm and 7pm on the first Monday of each month and if you can’t make that ring our parish office on 0191 5121769 on a Wednesday or Thursday to make other

St Michael’s Summer Club ends on a high

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The final session of Summer Club took the form of a party and once again we had a good number of children. We changed the format as we had the services of wonderful childrens entertainer Tony Junior – he really kept the children engaged and there was lots of laughter and opportunities to join in. Entertainment was followed by a party buffet prepared by the wonderful kitchen team and then some more games and dancing. Ann Donkin from Gentoo joined us for a second time to do some face painting. Later on we took the opportunity to thank and cheer the marvellous team of people who have come along week after week to help out and they all got a little sweet treat. The team also had a surprise up their sleeves for Christine & Dawn with a glorious bouquet and some wine! We all said our goodbyes and sent the children off with a party bag filled with treats.

Sing a New Song to the Lord!

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Learn new songs from our hymn book with Anne Harrison. Anne is a member of the Durham Diocesan Liturgical Committee and recently won the Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship for her outstanding contribution to music in worship. Anne was a member of the editorial team for our current hymn book. Please come along to support this event.

Space4 Childrens Trips to Bowes Museum

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Over the school Summer Holidays we were fortunate enough to organise two trips for some of the local children to Bowes Museum. The funding was from Darlington Building Society and it was distributed by Bowes Museum – thanks to Ray from Durham Diocese for giving us the heads up on this. Two groups of 12 children with adult volunteers were able to go along and enjoy looking around the museum, special craft activities, circus skills, animal encounters and outdoor play areas. Everyone had a truly fantastic time so here are some of the photos of what they got up to.

Bishop Mark attends farewell bash at Space4

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Bishop Mark was in Houghton le Spring again today (20/08/2018) to attend a farewell party at Space4. He has been a staunch supporter of the project from it’s inception and has continued to visit and champion our cause throughout. Today we were able to thank him, wish him well on his upcoming retirement and present him with a gift to remember us by. Bishop Mark gave us parting words of encouragement, stressing the importance of the work we do in our local community and acknowledging the input of our service users. He also gave a very moving blessing to baby Anastasia, who initially started to cry as she was handed over to him but then, as if she knew what was happening, stopped crying and lay quietly in his arms. It was a very special moment for all of us.

Bishop Mark Presides and Preaches

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On his last visit to St Michael’s prior to his retirement in October, Bishop Mark reflected that his first visit to us has been during the reordering 11 years ago when we were worshiping in the Kepier Hall. He said how much he has seen the church change and grow during his time and that he was particularly delighted with Space4 our outreach project. Our readings this morning were taken from Proverbs 9.1-6, Ephesians 5.15-20 and John 6.51-58 Bishop Mark asked us to think about when we are at our very best because he felt that these readings were encouraging us to do just that. He went on to say that when we are at our very best that is what God sees as our true selves and indeed we should too. He noted that things come along in life that lead us to stray from being our true selves; difficulties and dilemmas that cause us to be unkind to others and to ourselves. He gave us plenty to think about and lots of the congregation had

positive things to say to the Bishop after the service. Simon Hardy, church warden, had baked a lovely farewell cake which went down very well with tea, coffee and chat.

Week 3 & 4 of St Michael’s Summer Club

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We have been continuing to get good numbers at our Summer Club for local children at the Kepier Hall – a project funded from a Community Chest Grant. We were joined by Colin Nicholl, husband of Rox one of the organisers of the club, who tapped into his previous experience in youth work and kept the children well occupied with some great games both before and after lunch. Then it was time for ‘Open the Book’ – we have teams from our church congregation who go into local Primary schools to share bible stories in this amusing and engaging way. We heard all about Noah, the flood and his ark and the children sat spellbound as Rev Judith Howes told the story while some children helped to act it out. Sheila Wynne, Joan Beattie and Rebecca had organised some marvellous craft activities that had the children making arks and animals and then it was back to some great active games to finish off.
Week four was something of a carbon copy of week three only this time we got to hear all about Jonah and the Whale thanks to David and Rita Turnbull. But we also had a visit from Ann Donkin and Jo Avery from Gentoo who joined in with the crafts and did some fantastic face painting.
None of this great activity could happen without the hard work and dedication of a small team of volunteers from Space4, our uniformed organisations and church.

Local MP visits our mission project Space4

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On Friday 10th August our local MP Bridget Phillipson called in to Space4 to view the Votes for Women Exhibition and chat with service users and volunteers. The exhibition has been running all week and was the brainchild of Jorgie Carmichael (pictured below with Bridget) who originally came to Space4 as a service users; she is now a volunteer and a vital cog in the running of the project along with being a member of St Michael’s congregation, the choir and the Gilpin Singers!
Bridget enjoyed looking at the varied exhibits which celebrate struggle and achievement of local women including herself, local Councillors, artists, members of our congregation, women clergy, learners from the Kepier School and many more. She also took the time to chat with volunteers and service users.
There’s still time to call in to view the exhibition as it will be running until Saturday 18th August 2018.