St Thomas' Church, Watford

Christmas Eve 4.30 p.m.

Crib Service – children love this opportunity to join in the Christmas story by helping to make up the Christmas Crib and singing some favourite carols in this informal service, with mince pies and refreshments.

Christmas Day 10.00 a.m.

A short and light-hearted celebration to mark Jesus’ birthday. Bring along a present for ‘show and tell’ while the Christmas lunch cooks – it will make the day even more special.

There will be special collections at all these services for The New Hope Trust & The Peace Hospice.

A tropical downpour at lunchtime on September 2^nd failed to dampen spirits at the annual Summer Barbecue, though everyone was grateful that the organisers took one look at the sky and decided to move the event into the church foyer. This year the hard-working chefs outdid themselves with the variety of food on offer – including grilled chicken, sausages, veggie-burgers, salads, caramelized onion, dauphinois potatoes, followed by watermelon and, as a final touch, baklava.

On Saturday July 2nd a varied group of members enjoyed a day together in the beautiful new parish rooms at Chipperfield, to mark St Thomas’ Day.

The theme of the day was talking about our faith and there was plenty of food for thought in a mixture of group sessions and discussions. There was also plenty of time for a relaxed lunch on the green (or in a local hostelry!).

On May 27th St Thomas’ was privileged to hear first-hand of the work of Sister Lilly Pragasam, whose Cephas Happy Home in Bangalore is home to Ananda, the young girl supported by the Sunday Club – among many others.

The home was founded in memory of her son, who was killed in a road traffic accident and, in a moving testimony, Sister Lilly described the struggles she has been through, especially since the death of her husband. Despite the obstacles, her foundation has expanded its work to include the support of destitute widows which the church also supports.

You can read more about Sister Lilly’s work here.

CREI (it means ‘believe’ in Portugese) stands for ‘Centro de Recuperacao Infantil’ is our special monthly charity collection partner for this quarter of 2011.

Children at CREI

The charity was started by a Church in Ipanema in Brazil on March 14, 1966 to provide a recuperation centre for undernourished children.

Hundreds of children have now been helped by CREI, which also gives classes to the illiterate as wells as on child-rearing, the basics of hygiene and nutrition.

They currently care for around 50 children, and will probably have to be reduced this number further due to economic pressures.

This year’s Carols by Candle-light took a new form – cafe-church – with everyone sitting around candle-lit tables with coffee and mince pies, even while we listened again to the Christmas story and sang our carols.

Carols by Candle-light

Every year St Thomas chooses a special charity as a focus for our Christmas giving. This year we returned to one of our favourites, The Watford New Hope Trust. The Trust’s mission is to help the homeless and vulnerable in our community by providing shelter, food and opportunities to rebuild damaged lives. There were opportunities to donate to the Trust at all our services over the Christmas period and £395 was forwarded to the Trust – with more to come from reclaimed tax via Gift Aid.

You can learn more about the work of the trust here

Goodies for Children in Need

Thank you to everybody that rolled up their sleeves and got baking to support our bake sale for the BBC Children in Need Appeal on Sunday 21st November.

Thanks to everybody that put their hands in their pockets to buy the scrumptious goodies.

We raised £124 and the Crafty Knit and Natter group contributed an additional £20.

The young people at St Thomas’ have a long-term commitment to support Anandha, a young girl living in Bangalore, India. In November they organized a table-top sale to raise funds. It was an outstanding success, raising nearly £500.

Soon after we received a letter from Anandha…

Hai dear St Thomas Sunday Club,

I’m very happy to meet you all through this little note. I’m fine by God’s Grace. I’m praying for you all and Thank You very much for your prayers and support.

On 3^rd December I am saying a memory verse and I will sing a song.

Your loving friend,
Anandha

The gifts from this year’s Harvest Festival were sent to the Refugee Project and this letter was later received from the Chairman of the Project, Richard Kendall.

The Watford and Three Rivers Refugee Project provides practical and emotional support for asylum-seekers, particularly those deemed to have `failed`, and refugees in the area. All those assisted are destitute and often desperate with some having small children. Most of those helped are not allowed to work or to claim State benefits. One of the main ways in which we support such people is by providing tinned food and other items.

On behalf of the Project, I would like to thank everyone who gave to our organisation at Harvest Festival. It never ceases to surprise us how generous people are in helping to support the work we do. In recent weeks, our stores had become depleted and the donations of food and so on recently received from your church have been particularly welcome.

Our thanks go to everyone who assisted us in this way; it is greatly appreciated.