SUNDAYS
Heslington
Church admits children to receive communion at the rail with their
parents.
At 11.00am there is a relaxed child-friendly service each Sunday.
On two Sundays the children remain with the adults to enjoy activities
and worship within the church. On the other Sundays there are children's
groups staffed by leaders who are all CRB checked. The children
can then learn at their own level. The session includes a news/circle
time, Bible story, games, cooking, crafts, singing. There is a selection
of toys for the babies to play with. We end with a drink and biscuit
and say a prayer. Then we rejoin the congregation for communion
/ blessing and an opportunity to share our craft work. Junior church
has approximately 10 children attending regularly. Sometimes we
have up to 16 with visitors and on special occasions.
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Sunday School children with their Easter Garden |
Easter Garden 2009 |
Nativity play |
Christmas party |
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Heslington hosts the thrice-yearly York churches Sunday afternoon
five-a-side football tournament for under 13's,
who compete for the Heslington Trophy. The next tournament dates
in 2010 are 21st March and 13th June.
The late summer fixture took place last year on Sunday 27th September
on Lord Deramore's School field, by kind permission of the Headteacher.
With some of the older members having to move on, we welcomed five
new members to our squad Edward, Billy, Asher, Anjan and Chark joined
Brandon, Maya and Iona who have played in previous tournaments.
Considering most of the team didn't even know each other, let alone
ever having played together, they showed great promise for the future.
We finished 4th out of 7, winning two games and being narrowly beaten
in the others. We can now look forward to the next tournament on
21st March 2010 with optimism.
Many thanks once again to John for organising this very popular
event.
On Sunday 4th October, the older members of our team were invited
to take part in a five-a-side tournament for the under 16's at Stamford
Bridge. The other teams taking part were Stamford Bridge, Acomb,
Elim, YCC and Wham. We fielded probably the youngest team in the
tournament, our squad consisting of Matthew, Fran, Billy, Bilbo,
Asher and Chark. After a good start against YCC, resulting in a
2-2 draw, we went on to lose the other four games despite some very
spirited performances. As with the under 13's, we have a lot to
look forward to when we put our boots on for the next tournament
in 2010. |
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MID-WEEK
Under 5s are now catered for again. They meet,
together with their parents / carers, on Thursdays at 9.15am till
11.00am in the Church Meeting Room. The decision for a regular
meeting was taken at the Teddy Bears' picnic in the vicarage garden
last August. The pictures show some of the action at the picnic
- click on each to show the enlargement.
Under 5s is a weekly meeting for anyone with
pre-school children. There will be play for the children, songs,
making and colouring, conversation and refreshments. There will
be a small charge for the refreshments. |
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Each year, the church runs a popular children's holiday club
for 5 to 11 year olds. The club meets every morning for a week in August
to explore a Bible story using crafts, games, puppet theatre, music and
DVDs.
Last year's holiday club ran on the mornings of Monday 10th August to
Friday 14th, 10.00am - 12.30pm each day and it was attended by over 50
children. It was called 'Rocky's Plaice' and had, as you may imagine,
a distinctly fishy theme to it. The five day programme was based on the
adventures of St. Peter and some of the people in the early church.
Church-sponsored Brownies and Rainbows
meet on Monday evenings on the Church premises.
The 1st Heslington Rainbows have 20 members with 5 adult helpers.
We have lots of fun doing craft activities, baking and playing games!
We have just achieved our Roundabout badges and we really enjoyed
our recent trip to Creepy Crawlies. The Rainbow Guider is Sue Laurence.
The 1st Heslington Brownies have 15 members with 6 adult helpers.
We enjoy a pack holiday each year as well as doing lots of work
on badges, crafts, baking and have lots of fun. In July 2007 we
celebrated 40 years of 1st Heslington Brownies with lots of past
Brownies and Guiding friends, a cake, banners, balloons and food.
The Brownie Guider is Janet Owston. |
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Church-sponsored Scouts, Cubs
and Beavers meet across the road in the Scout hut.
The boys' activities assist their development as they learn to socialise,
work together in groups, make friends and undertake challenges appropriate
to their age. The Heslington Scout Group has had a particularly
interesting and fruitful year in 2007.
Our Beaver colony for ages 6 – 8 comprises 21 Beavers with
3 waiting to be old enough to join. In the last year we have had
sleepovers at Tamasha Centenary Camp, the Railway Museum, the Minster
and in our own Scout Hut. Beavers helped out with the Garden Make
Over at Heslington Reading Rooms and buried a time-capsule there
to mark the Centenary of Scouting. This year we have been on a visit
to the University Observatory and are going to a sleepover at Snowball
Scout Camp and on a water activity day in Richmondshire.
About 10 Beavers will swim up to Cubs over the next few months
which may give us some places available in this age range later
in the summer.
Heslington Cub Pack (age range 8 – 10½) currently
has 21 members with a further 2 about to be invested. The year saw
us kayaking in June, sleeping over in the Minster in August and
climbing Roseberry Topping in September. 2008 looks to be just as
busy, with a mixture of camps and other adventurous activities.
Similarly our Scout troop for ages 10½ – 15 remains
full with some 20 members and activities have included a mixture
of hikes and camps, canoeing, pioneering, campfires and rock climbing.
We have held a summer Camp, a weekend at a mountain hut in the Pennines
and a bivouac night sleeping out under the stars on the North York
Moors.
We also have a very healthy membership in the 15 to 25 years age
range comprising several young leaders and a number of Warranted
Leaders and Section Assistants over 18. These groups have also actively
pursued programmes of personal development, often with a mountaineering
flavour including expeditions for Young Leaders linked to the Duke
of Edinburgh scheme and Mountain Leadership skills for the over-18s.
Scouting dates its foundation back to 1907 and so we have been
part of the Centenary Celebrations which have taken place nationally.
The Group organised a Sunrise Ceremony (at 5.00am) in summer in
the Howardian Hills. Locally in Heslington, we have carried out
a project to clear, tidy, replant and repair an area at the Meeting
Room off Main Street.
Owing to the invaluable work of a few supporters on our small Committee,
the Group has been able this year to replace its elderly vehicle
with a much more youthful minibus and currently has in mind a new
bespoke camping trailer.
The Group Leader is Andrew Eccles.
Our website is http://www.heslingtonscoutgroup.org.uk
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A session of a pre-school children's music group, Song Box,
meets on Friday afternoon in the church meeting room. from 2pm to 3pm.
There is a charge for this.
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