Category: Parishioner

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SPARKS funding for Ash Villages Food Parcels Project

Just like so many other charities, churches and community projects, the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is suffering from a reduction in donations of food, toiletries and funds as everyone adjusts their budgets to get through the cost of living crisis. We are doing all we can to keep costs very tightly controlled and have been more public about asking for help on social media recently. However, funding is very tight and we are in need of more help to keep the service going for as long as it is needed.

Today we are delighted to share some good news – the SPARKS fund has awarded us enough funds to fill our food parcels for 5 weeks! The SPARKS fund is part of Voluntary Action South West Surrey, helping communities impacted by covid19 and its wider impact on health and wellbeing. This is a very welcome grant indeed, and will make a huge difference to the local people we support in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. Every parcel is a response to help a person or family in crisis, and every penny of this grant will be providing food and essential toiletries to those in need in the coming weeks.

We hope that all our friends and neighbours in the local area will keep the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project in your thoughts and prayers as we head towards autumn and winter. Please do get in touch if you would like to volunteer, donate or collect tins at your school / company / club / church / shop / and please keep us in mind especially as Harvest Festival approaches. We would be very grateful for any contributions of store cupboard foods, essential toiletries or indeed funds which we use to buy supplies in bulk. We also accept donations online via Give a Little here:

https://givealittle.co/campaigns/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c

Thank you for your support and wishing you a wonderful summer,

Alex & Carla

#AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject #FoodBank #AshVale #AshGreen #Tongham #Ash #Community

Contact us about the project: 07730 609446 / foodparcels@ash-vale.org.uk

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Meet the local – The Parishioner interviews Katie

(Parishioner) – great to meet you tell us a bit about yourself!

Hi I’m Katie, mum of 2 (plus 1 fur baby!). I like keeping busy and my passions include designing and decorating rooms in our family home.

(Parishioner) – How long have you been in the area, tell us what you love about Ash & Ash Vale?

I’ve been blessed to be a local all my life, and I really love the sense of community. As a youngster I went to Walsh Infants and Juniors, and then Ash Manor, so I’m Ash through and through! I love the local community and especially the groups at The Chapel on Wharf Rd where I have spent many happy hours with the kids.

(Parishioner) What’s good in the holidays around here – Anything you’d recommend to a newcomer in the area?

Our favourite thing to do is “Picnic and Play” at The Chapel on Wednesdays in August. We love all the activities and games – and Neil’s pancakes of course! We’ve been to Forest Kids Ash, which is great fun too. I would recommend both of those to anyone.

(Parishioner) – a little bird told us you have a cleaning business? Tell us more about it!

Yes, I’m self employed, serving the local community doing cleaning for local people walkable from Shawfield School area. I’m very passionate about my cleaning, and have a good eye for detail. It’s what I love to do!

(Parishioner) – Great to meet you Katie, thanks for being our “Meet the Local” this week!

If you’d like to contact Katie to enquire about a clean you can reach her on: littlegem.ks@gmail.com

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Ash Vale Community Singers re-starting 6th September

By Andy Johnson

ASH VALE VILLAGE SINGERS

Your local community choir re-starts

Wednesday 6th September 2023

shanties – spirituals – rounds – folk songs – work songs – evergreen pop songs – drinking songs – African harmony songs – carols and more

NO AUDITIONS

NO READING

NO ‘HOMEWORK’

just singing

by listening and repeating

7.45 to 9.30 pm in the small hall

St Mary’s Community Centre, 203 Vale Rd, GU12 5JE

Weekly on Wednesdays in Surrey school term times

Give it a go!

More info Andy 01252 645090

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What does the Food Parcels Project need? 

By Alexandra Sanderson 

We had a lovely enquiry today. A kind local resident keen to help the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project and wanting to know what items to give. He is not on social media, so needed a list that could be printed off to refer back to. I was delighted to oblige! 

Here is the list of the weekly items we use for a standard food parcel, to give you an idea of what you might donate: 

The tins we get through 30+ a week of each: 

Tomatoes / Sweetcorn / Baked beans / Tuna

Meat (curry or hotdogs or ham or mince etc)

Sweet (fruit / rice pud / custard etc)

Other staples we include every week are: 

Pasta (instant noodles are low cost to cook) 

Rice (microwave rice is low cost to heat)

Pasta sauce (again low cost to heat)

Tea / coffee / Sugar 

Uht milk & Cereal

Treats occasionally to bring a smile e.g. Biscuits / Jam / crisps

We also try to include fresh items to support healthier eating: 

Potatoes / Onions / Carrots / Apples / Eggs

Any of the above that you might like to donate would be much appreciated thank you. You could pick one item and donate a few of the same, or pick a couple of things from the list, or even pick one of each and donate the necessary for a whole weekly parcel. 

Alternatively you could choose to support with toiletries: & “Baby bank” items

Shower gel / Shampoo / Sanitary items / Soap

Nappies / baby wipes / Baby forumla / Baby food pouches

Laundry pods (we divide packs between families)

Pets: We also like to be able to give out cat food and dog food if people are able to donate those so that families can afford to keep much loved pets. 

Where to send things:

Donations can be dropped off at St Mary’s Church on Vale Rd, GU12 5JE whenever we are open. In the summer holidays Friday Cafe is open in August 10:00-13:00 and the church services are 10:30am-12:00.

You can also take donations directly to the team at the Chapel on Wharf Rd GU12 5AY, where we pack the parcels. The team is there packing parcels on Wednesdays and Fridays 8:45-9:45am or contact us to make other arrangements if these times don’t work for you. You can also choose to leave items in the community shed in our car park. Please clearly label the bag “Donation for the food parcels”.

Do you take donations of funds to? Yes please! If shopping is inconvenient we do also very gladly accept donations of funds. We can buy in bulk which keeps the cost down and makes your money go even further to feed more families.

You can donate by cash or cheque at St Marys’s church Ash Vale, which our Treasurer allocates to the restricted fund for food parcels – just write on the envelope or on the back of the cheque what the donation is for and Patrick ensures it goes in the righ account.

We can send you the details for a bank transfer or regular standing order if you prefer.  This just requires you to put “Food Parcels” as the reference so again Patrick can assign the funds to the right project.

For immediate online donations we have a church account with the “Give a little” donations platform and the link for the Food Parcels project is here: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c  this platform allows you to sign up for regular giving, or a one-off donation, whichever you would like to do.

Whatever you decide to do – thank you very much for your support!

If you’d like to know more please Contact: 07730609446

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Uganda Prayer Wall 2023

After 2 intense weeks of mission we are all so excited to see the Away Team home again and hear their news on Sunday. Here is the “Prayer Wall” content that has been shared by the Home Team (tha’s all of us here praying) in church – also now shared here for anyone unable to visit in person and read it all on the board. We hope you enjoy this virtual journey of prayer. Please keep the Uganda team in your prayers always. They will be continuing this work day in, day out, faithfully serving God.

If you would like to know more or would like to make a donation to support the work please have a look at Amaha We Uganda (Hope For Uganda) online or ask us in church.

www.amahaweuganda.org

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News From Uganda – Videos – July 2023

The incredible thing about modern technology is that we can now receive videos from the team, via WhatsApp, directly from where they are in Uganda. Here are a few of the amazing videos that we have received from Neil, Helen, Sarah, Judith, Tina and William this week.

Amaha We Uganda Head Office – have a look around!

Next the team prepared the packs and went to meet the Womens Groups Leaders for a conference. Here are the video updates from the event… see below.

And after the Women’s conference – dancing and worship on prayer mountain!

After a very full week the team spend a little time enjoying the local wildlife at the Queen Elizabeth park:

Up in the hills – A wonderful time of fellowship with the Archdeacons at their conference. Visiting the villages to see old friends… Having a look at the trees already planted and the difference they make. Taking time to understand the context in which more new trees may be able to be planted…. and the challenges that everyone is facing.

Fellowship at AWU HQ: The team had a wonderful time of fellowship with the Street Boys in Kasese. Please keep them all in your prayers. There are some very inspiring young men among them who now have their own businesses and are paying school fees for their own children.

Respect to these chefs who made lunch for 1000 people!

This is what the roads are like in places… please keep the team in your prayers for safe travel.

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Ash Vale Community Fridge –  Our journey so far! 

(by Alex Sanderson and Carla Morson)

What a super morning we had on 21st June 2023 celebrating this new project!  We are delighted to declare the new Ash Vale Community Fridge officially open! This is a superb way to make sure that no good food goes to waste, and we hope all our friends and neighbours enjoy using it.  Ever wondered what goes in to a project like this? Here’s how the story unfolded…

One fine autumn day in 2022, our amazing Ash Villages Food Parcels Team, Chapel Project Team, and Chapel Kids toddler group were delighted to visit Ash Vale Co-op to celebrate the amazing support, delicious Fareshare food donations and vital community funding received from the Co-Op community team, and our 2 local stores in Ash and Ash Vale. We got chatting to Claire about food waste and mentioned wanting to have a fridge or shelving of some sort outside, so we could offer food to the community for more than just a few hours a week when the food parcels team are in the building. Amazingly, Claire had a contact, and knew of a Co-op / Hubbub Community Fridge network grant funding round that was closing in just a few days – fantastic!

With no time to waste, we sprang into action. First we got the go-ahead from The Chapel management team and St Mary’s, and started the application forms. With some super support from Patrick, who kindly handles the money side of things for our Food Parcels Project for us, we got the right documents submitted along with our Community Fridge application just in time. And then… Joy of joys! We were chosen to join the scheme, and received the funding in early 2023. With that, the search was on for a fridge.. that would fit in a shed.. that would fit in the space.. that would fit within budget… not as easy as it sounds, but we got there.

You can’t run a fridge on fresh air, so the next job was the electrics! Fortunately, Sacha from Sassy does it electrical was overseeing the Chapel’s electrical checks in the spring. Her team did a super job, so we invited them back to help us with an electrical supply for the community fridge. Their help and advice was invaluable and they did the job brilliantly. We even have an extra socket at the ready just in case we need heat or light in the winter.

Where there’s food there’s admin… If you’ve ever seen a Hubbub community fridge before, you will know that they are super helpful, providing signage, instructions, templates and pointers for every eventuality. We were very fortunate to have the amazing Viv on our team who kindly trawled through hundreds of pages of advice and instructions and made sure we didn’t miss anything important. Between us we completed the risk assessments, registrations, signage and other ‘setting things up’ tasks that go on behind the scenes. We even had Carla taking time out of a very busy schedule chasing up the insurance for us to get it all ready in time!

While the ladies busied themselves with the paperwork… the gents took on the practical challenges: We owe a big THANK YOU to Luke and his team who cleared away the weeds to make a clear space for us as part of their garden clean-up, and to Jeff who measured up and hand made the base for the shed and reinforced the floor, and to Steve and Alun who put up the shed, strengthened it, and bolted the Fridge down safely to make sure it stays where it is! We even have a lovely shelf, custom made, from a re-purposed kitchen top, so we can have swap-shop items and non-fridge items available in the community shed too.

The final piece of the jigsaw is of course the food to go in the fridge. This is where our food parcels team comes in – they will be the first regular contributors. These local heroes collect donated food from Co-op, Bookers and Tesco in the evenings twice a week. They use everything they can to go into the food parcels for local families, but sometimes they do receive things that will be out of date by the morning and can’t be frozen, or sometimes more of something than can be used in the parcels. They always try to make sure nothing is wasted, but it can be very time consuming making lots of individual phone calls. Now of course, having the community fridge is perfect – we can all simply pop the surplus in the fridge, snap a photo and tell our Facebook followers what’s up for grabs.

And then we launched! It’s hard to believe that all the hard graft has finally paid off and we can proudly say that the community fridge is officially open! The Co-op team are so amazing, they even came to celebrate the launch with us, bringing fresh bread and bananas to offer out to our first Community Fridge heroes! Rev Neil said a few words, and he, Carla and Claire cut the ribbon. Alex brought along some fizz and we all raised a glass (alcohol free of course!) to the project and all involved.

What does the future hold? It’s up to you! We hope that everyone locally will get into the habit of using the Ash Vale Community Fridge. Give what you can, take what you need, keep good food out of the bin… and please remember to fill in the sheet in the red folder so we can tell you how much food we have saved! We would love to grow this project, with more evening volunteers for more food collections, to put food in the fridge every night. We would love more volunteers to join the rota to check the fridges and help us to keep them shiny and clean. We will need some help raising funds for the electric bill once the initial grant funds run out, if anyone fancies becoming a regular donor or doing a sponsored challenge, give us a call. Feedback is always welcomed too of course, in person or you can phone or email. If you’d like to come and talk to us, Monday Chapel Café is 9am-12:00 in term time. Alex is there each week during the school term with Andy ready to make you a cuppa and give you the tour. Why not pop in and say hello?

Please join us in thanking these amazing local heroes, and see you soon at the fridge!

Alex & Carla

Project Manager’s phone: 07730 609446

Location:The Chapel Project, (former methodist church) Wharf Rd, Ash Vale, GU12 5AY

Our hall of fame… so far! Send us your photos of visiting, using and supporting the Community Fridge! Photo of the red folder – remember to log your food in and out! Patrick doing the electrics…. Steve and Alun putting up the shed… Jeff who built the base and reinfoced it, and has been part of the food parcels team for 3 years! ….Photos of the Launch Day with our friends from Co-Op….. Photos of the fridge in action…. Photos of the Food Parcels Crew who add items to the fridge… Photo of Rosie and Paul who collect donations in the evenings…. Send us your photos to add to the gallery! Love to everyone! xxx

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It’s volunteers week…  A great big THANK YOU to you all!

This volunteers week, we want to celebrate everyone who makes St Mary’s, the Chapel and all our local community projects and neighbourly activities so wonderful and welcoming. 

Did you know? Everything at St Mary’s relies on volunteers. With the exception of Revd Neil Lambert and Alex our part-time project manager, everyone else you see at church events and projects is a volunteer.

Thank you to those who help bake, cook, make the coffee and wash up, set up and clear down, wipe tables, stack chairs…. at church, at toddlers, at cafe, at bible study, and at our events like the quiz and summer fair and the light party and Christingle.

Thank you to all those who write articles for the online for the Parishioner magazine, put up posters and support us on social media with likes and shares. Thank you to the website and internet gurus and the technical whizzkids!

Thank you to everyone who volunteers on the PCC to help the church run, keeps us legal, looks after safeguarding and manages the building. Thank you to everyone involved in organising and leading events.

Thank you to everyone who makes the Sunday services so uplifting – flowers, altar linen, readings, prayers, worship, preaching, sound, zoom, service sheets, choir – there are so many ways to serve and we need them all. 

Thank you to the army of helpers who turn up week after week for the  food parcel project – donation collections,  stock management, cleaning, taking calls, packing and deliveries. 

Thank you for looking after the buildings with all the tidying, gardening, mending, polishing, fixing, skip runs, decorating and security.

Thank you for the care and love that goes into making Sundayschool happen, thank you for prayer ministry, thank you for welcoming people as they arrive.

Thank you for answering phones and emails, taking hall bookings, payroll and invoices, hearing aid clinics, chasing grants, managing the accounts, fundraising, stewardship and pastoral care.

thank you for donating raffle prizes, food donations, playing music, being the DJ, running a craft, sharing your talents, offering a hug, being a listening ear, leading a bible study, lifts, cooking for the community, putting up a shed, wiring up the Chapel office…..

….there are so so so many people who are are so kind and generous with their time and skills. Leading, encouraging, helping, visiting… we have probably missed lots off this list but please know that everything you so kindly do is priceless, important and appreciated. 

Some may say that in church we don’t volunteer, we are called to serve. On the other hand, some of our most faithful and dependable community volunteers are not actually church goers at all and we only see you in the week!  Whatever you do, and whatever your beliefs, we treasure you and thank you.   Please know that you are a huge blessing and we love you! THANK YOU ONE AND ALL! 

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Little Lambs Library – you’re invited! 

News from our Tuesday Baby and Toddler group

Can you believe it? Another Half Term has passed and we are looking forward to being back at Little Lambs on Tuesday next week 10:00-11.30. There 7 more sessions and then it will be the summer holidays! If you haven’t been before, do pop in and join us. Whether you come for just 1 session or all 7, you are very welcome and we look forward to welcoming you. (St Mary’s, Vale Road, GU12 5JE)

What do we get up to at Little Lambs Library? 

We start at 10am with the toys out, craft at the table and books in our ‘reading nook’ tent. Everyone enjoys doing whatever takes their fancy. Usually Heather makes the drinks, Nikki catches up with the grownups and Alex is on hand to sign everyone in and help at the craft table. We have a different craft activity each week – paint, magic sand, playdough, cutting and sticking, colouring, collage…

Then at about 10:45 we put up the bouncy castle. It’s a great way to let off steam! While the older ones have a bounce, the babies enjoy a bit of a quieter moment in the main hall.
And then…. Peter arrives with his guitar! We all help to tidy away the toys and gather on the carpet. Alex tells the story and then we enjoy some of singing and music making together, finishing with the Hokey Cokey. (And remember you can borrow books every week and bring them back next time!)

We would love to welcome you soon – see you at St Mary’s! 

Love from Alex, Nikki, Heather and Peter xxxx

Ps – It’s free / no fee so that everyone can join us, but we do ask for donations please if you can, so we can cover our running costs. Donations link: 

https://givealittle.co/campaigns/0e1c078e-06c0-4f64-9d7a-1d452662af80