Eagles' Quiz Night

On the evening of Friday 5^th October the Eagles’ hosted a Quiz Night to raise funds for our mission partners, Andy and Rosie and their work with street children in Brazil.

It was an extremely enjoyable and highly entertaining evening.

The questions ranged from General knowledge  through Music and Top 50 brands to Film and T.V.   In the end the very competitive “Quick Exit” team won with a very impressive score of 100 (out of a possible 117) points!

In spite of having challenged what they considered to have been a breach in “the rules” earlier in the evening and having competed with more team members than “the rules” allowed, “Quick Exit” were magnanimous in victory and generously shared their prize (of Heroes chocolates) with everyone in the room.

In addition to the quiz the Eagles’ also ran a raffle with a number of winners ....

.... including Chris, John, Nat, Wendy and Jean!

Altogether the Eagles raised £173.

Well done Eagles!  Also a very big “Thank you” to Rachel and Andy for all their hard work!

To find out more about Andy and Rose and Revive you can go to  their blog at http://andyandrose.posterous.com/

Eagles Car Wash 2012

Following the recent visit of our mission partners, Andy and Rose, the Eagles decided to hold their annual "Car Wash" and cream tea in aid of ReVive (see the recent blog entry "A visit from Andy and Rose").

They say "the sun shines on the righteous" so the Eagles must be doing something right as,after a decidedly dodgy morning, the sun came out soon after the "Car Wash" began at 1.00 p.m.

Dave, Shaun, and Tim coaxed, encouraged and cajoled the Eagles.... 

.... into power washing, ....

..... shampooing, .... 

.... rinsing .... 

.... and polishing the many cars that turned up for the event.

There was also a delicious "Cream tea" served by Michelle, Rachel and Sue and an enticing raffle.  So, it wasn't difficult to spend your money, and all in an excellent cause!

Altogether the Eagles, their helpers and their supporters, raised over £1029  for ReVive.

Well done everybody!

A Visit from Andy and Rosie

Sunday 8th July was a great day for us at St. John's as our Mission Partners, Andy and Rosie, joined us for the day.  It is three years since they were last here with us so it was good to see them again and to catch up on their news.

Andy and Rosie joined us at both the 10.30 a.m. service .....

..... and at 4U2@6 and Andy spoke to us on both occasions. 

He reminded us that last time they were over here they were working with street children in Olinda, a town in the North East of Brazil.  At that time they were working at Our Father's House which is for boys. 

Andy told the congregation that their role will be changing when they go back to Olinda.  They will still be  CMS Mission Partners and worshipping at Living Waters Anglican Church in Olinda but they will now be trying to do something for girls.  At the present time Andy said there were a number of organisations working with boys and their families but NONE working with girls.
Andy shared some shocking statistics with us such as that it is estimated that over 200,000 children in Brazil are visibly trapped in prostitution!  He also said that there will be many more "invisible" children in these dire straits.  He added that the average age of a first sexual encounter for these girls is 10 years old and the average age of a first pregnancy is 13!  [This of course implies that, out of hundreds of thousands of girls, there will be many victims much younger than this]  Shockingly Andy told us of individuals girls that he knew whose family circumstances were so desperate the the children's mothers were acting as their pimps.
So, the answer to the question "What's Next" for Andy and Rosie is that they are embarking on a very ambitious project to set up a series of "Safe Houses" for girls across Brazil.  Andy explained that there were many legal hazards and complications in doing such a thing so they are setting up a new charity, ReVive International, which will work within the auspices of CMS, to work with " vulnerable and at risk girls"..

This is a massive undertaking and Andy asked for our help.  In the face of such overwhelming odds you may wonder how you could help.  However, Andy suggests three possible avenues:
1.) Prayer - we can all pray for Andy, Rosie their soon to be born daughter, Sophia; we can pray for all the families and children trapped in poverty and being exploited in Brazil; we can pray for the construction of and work of ReVive.
2.) We can support ReVive financially as they will have to raise their own funds!  If you can help, or want to run a fundraiser for ReVive I'm sure Joyce will be able to tell you the most efficient way to give.
3.) Go out there to help!  [This may not be for all of us but if you hear of anybody who wants to do that you could support them in every way you can]


To find out more about Andy and Rose and Revive you can go to http://www.revive-international.org/ and/or their blog at http://andyandrose.posterous.com/ .

Following 4U2@6 Andy and Rosie joined us for our annual barbecue.  The weather was at least dry if not very warm.

A big "Thank you" to Dave and Gordon (who stepped in at the last moment) for slaving over the grills.  [We hope you are feeling better now, Andy!]

Summer Barbeque 2011

Following the Picnic in the Park we were once again blessed with lovely weather for our barbecue which was held after 4U2@6 on Sunday 10th July. Following the service, at which Tim lead our discussions on "Christian decision making", we drifted out into the grounds.

The barbecues were already up and running and the food was delicious.

A relaxing evening was enjoyed by young and old alike.

Thanks are due to Dave and Andy for their cooking skills and everyone who provided food and prepared the delicious desserts.

Eagles Skating in Manchester 2010

On Sat 20th Nov we took 11 Eagles ice-skating to Spinningfields in Manchester. The weather was fine but chilly as they embarked on their hours skating.

Andy proved to be a wizz on the ice and spent lots of his time helping the less brave eagles master the art of skating. Some were less eager than others to leave the side!

There weren't too many falls but lots of hand holding helped to avoid many a near miss.

At the end of the hour there were lots of sore ankles but everyone had enjoyed themselves and they were all ready for a sit down and have something to eat (nothing new there then!) before catching the train home.

Thanks for this, Rachel. Sounds as if you all had a great time. Sorry there is no photographic evidence of Andy's prowess!!!

Darwen Tower

Twelve adults, three children and a dog enjoyed a bracing walk up to Darwen Tower near Blackburn on Saturday 19th May.

Despite initial difficulties finding the starting point, a distinct lack of open tea rooms and pubs, and battling gale-force winds, the odd hailstorm and snow flurry they stood under Darwen tower and enjoyed panoramic views over the surrounding districts.

Thanks to Andy for organising another enjoyable walk.

[And thanks to you too Jane for submitting this and to Gordon for the photos!]

Walking with Andy

Yes, here it is - the promised report on the April walk!

A Right Royal Walk.

21st April, 2007

The weather was set fair, the boots, picnics and waterproofs were packed, and the ramblers were all ready to walk in Darwen … or so we thought.

However our intrepid sherpa, Andy, had got us all into the church car park at 9.30am on the Queen’s birthday under false pretences. Just in case anyone believed they would be familiar with the countryside around Darwen, he changed the destination to Croston. The closest the promise of a walk around three reservoirs came to fruition was a walk past the dishwashing unit, the laundry and the Elsan disposal area at the Royal Umpire Caravan Site. But it would be most unfair to leave you thinking those were the highlights of the day. Once we had walked through the car park at the caravan site and past the aforesaid water attractions (all of a quarter of a mile from where we had started our walk) we appeared to be lost; the book which Andy was following having been published some years earlier. Undeterred, Andy fiddled with his GPS and Ordnance Survey map whilst Cheryl took control of the guide book and a friendly local directed us to the river.

After that the walk definitely picked up and we passed through some beautiful countryside, enjoyed a coffee at a lovely café and picnicked in idyllic surroundings. We only had to retrace our steps once after lunch, no one got lost, and we all made it back to our cars by just after 2.00pm having enjoyed a walk of about 5 miles.

Personally I think it was a great shame that after Andy had gone to such trouble Her Majesty didn’t see fit to join us for what could have been a joint birthday celebration - Andy was not only our guide but also a birthday boy. Rounding up fault-finding walkers and then getting home in time to watch your football team lose - what a way to spend your birthday!

Many thanks Andy for another lovely day, we all enjoyed it no matter what we may say!
Christine Baker

Next walk will be on 19 May.

Venue to be decided but will be jolly exciting, not arduous and will involve afternoon tea (or morning coffee).
Usual meeting arrangements (9:30 at St. John's ) apply.

Walking from Whalley

It is a brave (or foolish?) man who sets out, on the penultimate day of the year, in the face of an appalling weather forecast to lead 3 children, 3 pensioners, 1 teenager, 2 dogs and 7 others for 4 miles over terrain not unlike that which you might imagine Bunyan’s “Slough of despond” to look and feel like! However, armed with a shiny new, bright yellow, hand held GPS (that Father Christmas had left for him) Andy Dean did not flinch from the task.
To find out more see theFebruary edition of The WORD - available in the church!