Many church members enjoyed the Tea Dance at the Council House organised by the Aspley Bells Lane Partnership. The music gave a very relaxing atmosphere as we ate our food followed by dancing for the energetic. A lovely time and a lot of fun. Do join us at our monthly tea dance at the Sports Hall in Minver Crescent.
Pancake Party
Pancake Day provides an opportunity for people of all ages to get together and have fun. Our evening began with various craft activities for adults and children. This was followed by pancakes and an opportunity to have a puzzling time with the quiz. The energetic joined in pancake racing and this was followed by a family challenge. The task was: using limited resources make a bridge for a car. There was a great deal of competition and resulted a variety of constructions. Certainly a great evening.
The Wooden Horse Brigade
Turning the pages of my usual weekend newspaper recently my attention was attracted by a headline “Charge of the Wooden Horse Brigade”. Intrigued, I began to read and found that the article mentioned the 65th anniversary of the Great Escape, the film of which most people must have seen as it has been repeated many times on TV and is about a group of prisoners of war in the Second World War who attempted to escape from a prison camp in 1943.
Eric Williams centre at
the Imperial War Museum
Sadly, few were successful and 50 prisoners in the camp had been shot as reprisals for the attempt. Not so well remembered was another, smaller attempt from the nearby Stalag Luft III when a large number of prisoners worked hard to enable 3 of their number to escape safely to freedom only 7 months later that year. They made a vaulting horse which was taken out to the compound to the same place every day (hiding inside was one man) and teams of men did a two hour gymnastics session whilst inside a tunneller dug a hole and a tunnel towards the camp fence, putting the yellow coloured sand into bags which had been made by cutting up sheets and other material. These full bags were hung up inside the “horse” and the digger could also crouch inside after filling in the hole with the surface soil he had saved for the purpose. After the exercises ended it took 4 men to carry this burden into the barber shop where floor boards were taken up, the digger released and the soil emptied underneath the building while the prisoners involved were having a sing song to distract the attention of the German guards!
This went on for 4 months until, following careful plans worked out beforehand, the tunnel was finished, ending beyond the confines of the camp among the trees. The 3 men, one of whom was Eric Williams (known as Bill) managed to escape. Provided with clothes and forged papers created by many other prisoners and posing as foreign workers they eventually arrived safely in Sweden before returning to Britain. Bill wrote a book about the venture called The Wooden Horse, which was made into a film, but this did not become as well known as the other, much larger, attempt. However, this small one was arguably the most successful escape of the Second World War.
What has this to do with Christ Church Cinderhill? After the war Bill met and married Sybil Grain, who, with her parents and brothers and sisters had been staunch supporters of our church for many years. The processional cross is dedicated to their elder son, John, who died from his wounds at Tobruk when serving with the army. Sybil was an officer in the WRENS and Dorothy was in the land army. Keith, the younger son, went into the church and became a Dean in a Diocese in Yorkshire. Gwen, the eldest of the family, stayed here all her life as some older church members may remember, and she died in 2007.
After living in Devon for some years when he continued writing books, Bill and Sybil decided to go to live on board their boat in the Greek Islands in the 1960’s and I well remember the day when they came with their Land Rover to say their goodbyes. Even now it gives me quite a thrill to remember shaking hands with someone who had undergone such a difficult and dangerous experience in the service of his country!
Sonia
A look back at our Good Friday Activity Morning
Our activity morning on Good Friday gave us an opportunity to think about Jesus betrayal and death in an informal way. Both children and adults joined in making Easter nests, crosses,
cards and taking part in some aspects of that Good Friday story as well of watching a video that reminded us all that this was not the end for Jesus would rise from the dead on Easter Sunday
Best of British Summer Fair
Photo by Peter Jordan
We celebrated our Summer Fair with ‘The Best Of British’ theme, The Day was blessed with lovely sunshine and the Town Crier, in the guise of John Radford opened our Fair with a resounding Oh Yea Oh Yea, he really looked the part in his costume and rang his bell and made his cry throughout the afternoon’s proceedings. Almost everyone dressed in their Best of British, from Knights of Old, Bobby on the Beat, Football supporters, court jesters, Dickens characters, Lyons Waitress, Welsh Lady, the W.I., Scout Leader and more. It was a very colourful afternoon with stalls and games.
We were entertained by the local Jackson Dance School who put their hearts into their performance. The Irish coffees proved a very popular attraction along side the food stalls which sold the old favourites like hot dogs and mushy peas. The Children’s hook a Duck was popular with the little ones as were all the children’s stalls. There were tombola, bric a brac, jewellery, raffle, plants and tea for two and Fairtrade stalls. Alongside these was a stand where you could check out your health by filling out a diabetic questionnaire.
Photo by Peter Jordan
Meanwhile inside Church you could enjoy a cup of tea and a sandwich while relaxing, looking at the flowers, having a go at the Best of Britain Quiz or just sitting quietly and enjoying the peace.
Our Fair raised a grand total of £1200 which will go towards our regeneration fund and we thank all who supported us in any way from fetching tables to setting up gazebos and the sound system and most of all we thank you for spending your money with us.
Brownies Presentation Day
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The Brownies had their presentation day in the Church when several of them received prizes for all the points they had gained during the year. They also entertained us with one of the songs from their Water Aid concert.
Father’s Day Barbecue
Morning service was a real family affair with fathers and children all taking part in the service. After the service it was out into the sunshine for our barbecue.
Don was kept busy cooking an endless supply of beefburgers and sausages, he was ably assisted by Malcolm.
Joan donned her apron and acted as waitress.
The ladies of Christ Church once again rose to the occasion with a wonderful array of delicious food.
It was great to relax in the sunshine chatting to new and old friends. It was lovely watching the children all playing together and having fun. The dads were kept busy playing games with the children.
A Summer Evening in June . . .
What a lovely way to spend it listening to the members of the Nottingham Bluecoat Singers treating us to yet again to another wonderful world of escapism.
Through their music and the talents of the Soloists we were transported down memory lane to the familiar songs of shows we had perhaps all seen and enjoyed at various times of our lives. Oliver, The Trolley Song from the film ‘Meet me in St. Louis’. We went from the streets of London to Broadway, a miscellany from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shows. ‘I could have danced all night’ and songs from George Gershwin.
There were poems to make us smile, one in particular remembered “the good old days” when we bathed in the tin bath in front of the fire. A long way from the present time of spa’s and showers.
During the interval wine and nibbles were served and of course the proverbial raffle drawn. Then back to our seats for the final part. We were very sad when the evening came to a close.
Those who were unable to be there missed a treat - please do come next time we have a visiting choir - we only have the best.
Of course one of the reasons for this evening was to raise much needed funds for our proposed new Church Hall in the church grounds and we were able to add £346.00 on this occasion. Thank you to all who supported us
