All Action at Harlington
with the Pantomime Pram Service
and First Day Special
You can also hear about a typical week
in the life of the Church
Pantomime Pram Service
When the Pantomime group in Harlington takes over the Village Hall to put on the annual pantomime, the 0-4s group needs somewhere to go for the Friday morning.
Step in the Methodist Church with the Christmas Pram Service. We invite the mums/dads/grandparents to join us for a Christmas Service, followed by tea, coffee, squash and biscuits and even mince pies.
This year the service was led by TJ. We sang new words for Christmas to tunes such as” London Bridge is falling down”, and “The wheels on the bus go round and round”, several of which required the children to play bells and drums (plus tambourines, castanets and maracas), TJ told the Christmas story with the aid of a soft crib set, so the children could hold, Mary or a king or angel. We finished with “Little Donkey” and “Away in a manger”.
Over coffee we were able to talk with parents and a number of parents enquired about bringing their children to other things at the church.
First Day Special at Harlington
First Day is what we call our Sunday children’s work at Harlington. Four times a year we have a First Day Special, the latest one being on the last Sunday of November.
At a First Day Special the Children arrive at 9 am for breakfast snacks, including doughnuts, croissants, toast and, as we were thinking of Christmas, mince pies. This year we were thinking of some of the Christmas traditions, so, following a story and prayer, the children undertook a variety of activities. These included making miniature Christmas trees, with the story of St. Boniface, candles, put on trees by Martin Luther, Santa Claus collages, after St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, mini Advent rings for the Sunday’s of Advent, using night lights. They also made sugar mice, marzipan fruit, Cornish fairings (a spiced biscuit), and yule logs, though this was explained as a Norse, pre-Christian tradition! All these were for them to take home (if they hadn’t eaten them first. They also made the Big Picture, a candle for the Light of the World, which stays at the church till the next First Day Special.
We finish when the morning service finishes, at about 11 am, so the congregation can see what has been done while they drink their after service coffee.
This is an event that it is easy to invite the many children who don’t normally come to Sunday things to, and many of the dozen children and teenagers who come fit in this group.
A week in the life of Harlington Methodist Church.
We have been trying a few new things at Harlington and thought you would like to know what we are up to.
Saturday 3rd: Book Sale. This was our 11th Book sale which has now become a community social event. We raised almost £1000 which will be split between this year’s project, Street Pastors, the food bank and Church funds. Good chance to meet people and talk about books, life, whatever.
Sunday 4th: Not The Ten O'clock Service took the form of a birthday party celebrating 3 years of First Day. NTTOS replaced family worship and First Day replaced Sunday School. Nothing like starting a service with a party game, and finishing by having a cake to decorate. Story of the Great Feast told. Will you accept your invitation? Are you giving out the invitations you should be?
Tuesday 6th: chill out cafe for upper school children run through Churches Together in Harlington. This started in October and provides a safe environment for teenagers to relax, play games and do their homework. We started with just one teenager but the numbers are gradually increasing.
Tuesday 6th: Tuesday Fellowship Group
Wednesday 7th: Wednesday Fellowship Group
Thursday 8th: Thursday Fellowship Group. We increased the number of fellowship groups as a result of our "Sharing in Gods Love" weekend.
Thursday 8th: Ladies Bright Hour.
Friday 9th: 626 club, for 6 to 11 year olds. Has 30 members, 20 plus attending in any week. A good place to play games and have fun. This Friday we see the start of the " Friday Thing" which is a new youth group for children aged 11 to 18. It combines the existing Boys Brigade and 7Up which have struggled with falling numbers.
Saturday 10th: Harlington Community Choir. We meet on the second Saturday of each month and this will be our 3rd session. We sing songs from the shows, choruses, rounds and other well known songs. No auditions. We started with 27 people and now have almost 50 people on the books.
Was this a typical week? Well, apart from the book sale, yes!
Thank you to our reporters at Harlington