| Big thank you to all the villagers who turned out this afternoon to help prevent the Methodist church from flooding. Sandbags have been placed out across cottage Lane and Don Mansell and Tony Rumble brought pumps to expel the water from the chapel grounds. It was so great to see youngsters joining in with the older residents so enthusiastically. Youngsters these days generally get such a bad press, but our young villagers should be commended on their efforts. So a special thank you to them. Our grateful thanks go to this hard working team of “Flood Busters” who worked tirelessly for over three hours, sweeping and clearing and digging channels to try and divert the source of the flood. Everybody played an important part – we even had our own female traffic controller, who did a valiant job at keeping the rush hour traffic flowing (if you pardon the pun) through the village. Thank you so much to everyone for helping to keep our Methodist Chapel afloat. And lets hope the rain stops soon, otherwise we shall have to convert it into an Ark! |  Photo Anne Pointer |
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A busy weekend with a lot of people popping in to see the exhibitions or to have a cup of tea and on Sunday a sing song too. If you missed it then you have a chance to catch up with our online review of the wedding and events. Sunday we had two important services. The morning one was taken by our own Mike Crockett and included appropriately the annual covenant event. The special evening one was lead by Rev David Reddish who was our minister from 1968-1974 and so he was well placed to remember many characters of previous generations, many of whom remember the dawn of the current new buildings. His sermon mentioned the late Mrs Redfern, who was the last person alive to worship in the former chapel in Brimingham Road. She was always Mrs Redfern to all who knew her except Bob Drydren who used to call her by her first name Vicky, much to the embarrassment of everyone else it seems. David remembered her displays of lilies at Easter time which were always stunning. Many attended the service and reminisced afterwards with coffee and cakes in the schoolroom. Many commented on the newspaper cutting of the same Rev. David Reddish back in 1971 along with Mrs Redfern. The display of the Sunday School activities and the memories of the "Bright Hour" and Womens Social Hour which ran from 1921 to early 1990's before evolving into the current unisex coffee mornings in more modern days. I wonder how many of the people who were at the opening service back in 1914 would believe our current church with its regular meetings throughout the week for numerous activities within the community, and surely we must be one of the few churches with an attached hairdressing salon.
Read more to see our exhibition of weddings and dresses that have taken place in the chapel over the years.
We thank Saltley for their lovely card which marks our centenary events - a lovely thought. Today marks the actual date the opening service was held on 7th February 1914.  A busy and well attended morning which gave us shelter from yet more rain. With places like Somerset getting steadily more water logged we in Whitacre are grateful not to be so afflicted. Much talk of the forthcoming centenary event this weekend and a got a sneak preview of some of the exhibition as it was being arranged and assembled during the morning. It transpires that our minister for the evening David Reddish is travelling back from the New York and we hope he will not be too jet lagged to complete the evening service. Someone has been primed as a replacement in the unlikely event of a "no show!"
We raised £112 to support the Methodist Homes for the Aged charity. |
Whitacre Congregation is a vibrant mix of young and old who enjoy meeting for Sunday worship. Do come and join us. Categories
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