2010 was an eventful year - here are some of the highlights of life at 'the Shed' and out and about.
Links with Roman Way School: we had an invite to the opening of their wildlife garden which we gave a makeover to at the end of 2009. It was a beautiful day and the children (and staff!) were really excited about it. The garden was opened by Olivery Heald - see picture. Well done to the team: Laura, Dan, Frankie, Dave, Dannii, Kez and of course Vic, who made it all happen. Also at Roman Way was the opening of their Children's Centre: thanks to Mel, Amy and Laura who spent a happy afternoon filling several hundred party bags and waitressing at the kid's tea party. And of course there were the assemblies - you had to be there really but they were such fun. Thanks to Dan, Laura, Mel and Tom (who provided the most amazing lion's roar which got absoluately everyone's attention!
Water Aid Day: 2010 also saw Royston Heath rocking to the sounds of local bands and the Rev home crew. We raised £1049 for Water Aid, the weather was kind, give or take a bit of hassle with a stiff breeze and a good time was had by all. Thanks to Dannii for organising lorry, raffle and large chunks of musical entertainment; Dannii and Tom for hosting; Kez, Dan, Dannii, Laura, Joe, Tom, Amy, Mel, Frankie, Ben and Odin for their hard work and stamina in putting the music together; Emily, Alice and Rachel for their stoic work on the face painting event; Steve and Dawn, the Long family, Cathy and Lorraine from Trinity Life, Chris and Lynn from Royston Methodist church, Gerry and Lesley, Rachel, Chris, Luke and Frankie, Sam and everyone else who manned stalls on the day and made it all work. And Odin for getting us on the front page of the Royston Crow - nice one!
At Home: we had our first (and second) baptism this year; congratulations to Amy and Mel for taking the plunge. We have seen the music grow and expand as more people got involved and new musicians joined the crew; we saw Dan off to college to start a degree in theology; and ran our fifth Alpha Course (Introduction to Christianity). We held our first kids event - an Easter Craft Day; well done to Dannii, Rachel, Dan and Laura, and have begun a building programme to install a prayer froom with adjoining loo at the Shed. Thanks to Vic and Jason Stigler for his encouragement and help with building materials. We have seen an increase in interest from Meldreth Manor staff, some of whom are now regularly attending on Sunday Nights. 2010 was also the year when we became members of Churches Together in Royston and District and we hosted the AGM in March. We look forward to visiting other churches in the area and working together in 2011.
South Wales - In 2010 we had our first Church mid week break and camped in South Wales for a few days in the Summer. This was not without difficulties - getting a puncture on my caravan a few yards from the site will stick in my memory for a while but with Joe, Dan and Kez on hand to sort it out there really wasn't much of a problem. And it was a dream of a holiday - the evening guitar entertainment was lovely, Kez and Joe were happy and able to light beach fires at the drop of a hat, well firelighter actually, and Chris was willing to provide firewood at all times although I remember Kez being a bit surprised when Chris provided a small tree! Everyone took turns at cooking and we tried and tested new recipes and new camping gear. Thanks to Kez, Dannii, Joe, Dan, Laura, Chris, Frankie, Luke and Mel for a really memorable holiday. I think we should do it again.
Grapevine: a few of us went to Grapevine this year. It was very lovely and great to be able to bring back new songs and fresh perspective. And of course that's where Michael met Hannah! What can I say - Grapevine is always good.
Cancer Research Evening: in November 2010 Revelation hosted an evening of Indian food and musical entertainment at the Shed. We raised £101 for Cancer Research; the music and food were wonderful and a good time was had by all. Hopefully this will be the first of many such evenings - special thanks to Ben, Steve, Dawn and Dannii for the food; to Luke, Dannii, Mel, Dan, Laura, Odin, Kez, Mark and Lewis for the music and Jake who kindly took care of the sound desk for us. Also to those who bought tickets and came to enjoy the evening. It wouldn't have been much good without you!
Carol Singing - we had two carol singing opportunities this year - one in Royston Town for the christmas carnival where we raised £176.60 and another at Tesco's where we raised £176.62. Total raised for Jimmy's Nightshelter came to £353.21. Well done Dan, Laura, Abby, Hannah, Bryn, Maggie, Vic, Mel, Dave, Janna and especial thanks to Michael Easton who is totally amazing at collecting money and could, I'm sure, get blood out of a stone if ever necessary. Thanks also to 'the House' Youth project who tipped hot chocolate into us to thaw us out afterwards and Trinity Life who provided mulled wine during the singing. We could have done it without you but it wouldn't have been fund and your kindness was much appreciated.
And that's all for 2010. It's been a great year and I can't wait to see what 2011 brings. Thanks again to everyone who made it all happen.
Miriam Skuce
