News from the archives
During Fair Trade fortnight Westlea Church held its AGM preceded by a Fairtrade breakfast which was enjoyed by all who came. As a result we were able to give a donation of £80 to the Swindon Womens Refuge
During the week of 12th - 18th May, 2013, members of Westlea Church visited streets through Westlea and Eastleaze to deliver envelopes and collect for Christian Aid Week. This year we collected £898.30. Thank you to all who donated. If you missed the chance to give and wish to do so, please go to Christian Aid Week
On Sunday 17th March 2013 we held our Annual General Meeting as part of the Church Service following a FairTrade breakfast.
The following page includes archive information from previous What's On pages. See What's On and News for current and recent activities.
We held a Prayer 24 hours over 17th and 18th March 2012. During the 24 hours there were over 100 hours of prayer both corporately and on our own. Further details of the day can be found here.
On 2nd October 2011 we held our annual harvest festival service with 6 bags of food being collected in aid of Stanton Lodge Care Centre and 15 for Swindon Food Bank. Thank you to all who gave.
On 17th September we held our Member's meeting and among the items discussed as part of the outcome of the Healthy Church Check, we agreed to carry out a
- Prayer Walk around Westlea early in 2012.
- 24 hour prayer activity from 11 am 17th March 2012.
- Church Weekend away 29th June to 1st July.
Over the weekend of 20th to 22nd May 2011 we carried out a Healthy Church Check. It was led by a team from URC SW synod. Thanks go to Sarah, Mark and Doug for guiding us through the process. The sessions were based round the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation 2. As a result of the activities we identified things we do well and those that we could do better. These results are forming the basis of our activities in the coming months. These results can be found Click here
During the week of 15th - 21st May, 2011, members of Westlea Church visited streets through Westlea and Eastleaze to deliver envelopes and collect for Christian Aid Week. This year we collected £752.61. Thank you to all who donated. If you missed the chance to give and wish to do so, please go to Christian Aid Week
On May Bank Holiday Monday, a number of the church met up in Urchfont (near Devizes) to take part in the village's Scarecrow Festival pictures of the scarecrows, church flower festival (and the green beer!) are below.
Clue - Tell them about the honey! (Answer - Sugar Puffs)
Clue - Myopic gunslinger hands out the chocs (Answer - Milky Bar)
Clue - He endures the worst to bring you the best (Answer - John West Salmon)
Clue - Nana's Knitting (Answer - Shreddies)
Clue - He endures the worst to bring you the best (Answer - John West Salmon)
Clue - Roll call for a small dog (Answer - Andrex Toilet Roll)
Clue - Slip and slide banking (Answer - Barclaycard)
Clue - Be transformed by this automobile (Answer - Citroen-C4)
Clue - Can you see the savings? (Answer - Specsavers)
Winnie the Pooh flower festival display
Anyone fancy some green beer?
Green Beer drinkers
On Easter Monday, we made our annual visit to the bluebells of West Woods near Marlborough and some of the pictures follow, alternate pictures from previous years can be found in the archive. As always the bluebells were as outstanding as always.
Bluebells
More Bluebells
And more
Bluebell close up
On Sunday 13th March, 2011, Westlea Church celebrated Fairtrade fortnight by having a Fairtrade breakfast.
We followed the breakfast with the Church's Annual General Meeting interleaved with the service. The following is a summary of the meeting
- We reviewed the annual report for 2010.
- The Leadership team and other positions within the Church were approved.
- The accounts for 2010 were accepted and the budget for 2011 approved. It was noted that the budget for this year continues to be a challenge for all.
- The charities that Westlea Church support were agreed to be Tearfund until 2012, the Emerge project in conjunction with NCounter until 2012 and Swindon Food Bank for the next year.
On Sunday 12th December 2010, we held our Nativity Service combined with Christingle service. The Nativity Service used material from Tearfund. The collection was used to buy alternative gifts chosen by the children from the Tearfund Living Gifts catalogue. The gifts were:
- A bike for a volunteer to visit 20 sick people a week in Mozambique
- 8 ducks to provide eggs and income for families in Cambodia
- 8 latrine slabs for families in Uganda as well
- An additional donation of £4.94 to Tearfund.
On Sunday 3rd October, 2010 we had our annual harvest festival service with goods being collected in aid of Swindon Food Bank. We had a presentation from the food bank providing many fascinating statistics and much encouragement. As a result of the collection we filled 7 of the large boxes the Food Bank brought! (A total of 84.3kg). Additional donations added up to £117.97. Thank you to all who gave.
On Tuesday 20th July, 2010, we held our annual Church Barbecue which for a change was dry for most of the time. Our efforts to try and confuse the weather failed!
During the week of 9th - 15th May, 2010, members of Westlea Church visited streets through Westlea and Eastleaze to deliver envelopes and collect for Christian Aid Week. This year we collected £742.59. Thank you to all who donated. If you missed the chance to give and wish to do so, please go to Christian Aid Week
On Sunday 7th March, 2010, Westlea Church celebrated Fairtrade fortnight by having a Fairtrade breakfast. Donations from the breakfast were added to our donations to the Swindon Food Bank.
We followed the breakfast with the Church's Annual General Meeting interleaved with the service. The following is a summary of the meeting
- We reviewed the annual report for 2009.
- The Leadership team and other positions within the Church were approved.
- The accounts for 2009 were accepted and the budget for 2010 approved. It was noted that the budget for this year continues to be a challenge for all.
- The charities that Westlea Church support were agreed to be Tearfund until 2012, the Emerge project in conjunction with NCounter until 2011 and Swindon Food Bank for the next year.
On Friday 29th January, 2010, some of the Church along with friends attended the Swindon Youth for Christ ‘Slightly Challenging Quiz‘, true to form one team won and the other team came fourth. Well done to both teams!
On Sunday 24th January 2010, Westlea hosted the Partnership service which included puppets and dancing. The theme of the service was based on the theme from Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. At the service there was a retiring collection in aid of Christian Aid's emergency appeal for Haiti which raised £587.68. Thank you to all.
On Sunday 13th December 2009, we held our Nativity Service using a musical called ‘Christmas with the Aliens‘ by Nikki Lewis. This involved a retelling of the Nativity with the addition of aliens and a spaceship which had a passing resemblance to Starbug from Red Dwarf. It was built elsewhere and as can be seen had to be ‘flown‘ to Westlea Church...
The scene
The aliens had arrived...
Lift off of We-Bug
Crossing Westlea Drive
The Crew of We-Bug
On Sunday 4th October 2009, we had our Harvest Service and collected donations for the Swindon Food Bank. All in all we collected 86.8kg which has provided 102 meals for those in need in Swindon. Thank you to all.
On Tuesday 14th July, 2009, we held our annual Church Barbecue and true to form it rained! Despite this all had an enjoyable evening and have concluded that we will hold a surprise barbecue next year to try and confuse the weather!
On Sunday 28th June, 2009, Paul Stokes who is an "Evangelism and Renewal Advocate" for GEAR (Group for Evangelism and Renewal within the United Reformed Church) led a Study Day for the Church. The day was made up of two parts, a service led by Paul, followed by a Bring and Share lunch which then led in to an afternoon workshop on the working of the Holy Spirit, looking in particular at the life of Philip the Evangelist and how that relates to us. As well as looking at how we can use this message in our lives, we were encouraged to see what we were already doing. All of those who attended found it an encouraging but thought provoking day. Thanks go to Paul and his team as well as the team from within the Partnership who ran sessions for the younger members of the Church during the afternoon and Haydon Wick URC Church which permitted us to use their premises for the lunch and afternoon.
During the week of 10th - 16th May, 2009, members of Westlea Church visited streets through Westlea and Eastleaze to deliver envelopes and collect for Christian Aid Week. We collected £816.62 Thank you to all who donated. If you missed the chance to give and wish to do so, please go to Christian Aid Week
On Saturday 9th May, 2009 19 members from the churches in the Partnership met at Marlborough Leisure Centre on Saturday 9th May and walked across the Marlborough Downs to West Woods where we meandered our way through the amazing carpet of bluebells to Lockeridge Dene for lunch. After lunch we followed the the Kennett Valley back to Marlborough.
Click here for more details of where the walk was and pictures from the walk.
On Sunday 1st March, 2009, Westlea Church celebrated Fairtrade fortnight by having a Fairtrade breakfast.
. Donations from the breakfast raised £95 for
safe water projects run by Samaritan's Purse.
We followed the breakfast with the Church's Annual General Meeting interleaved with the service.
At Christmas 2008, rather than giving gifts and Christmas cards to everyone in the Church, donations were received and instead we bought a bog (toilet) and safe water for 36 people from Oxfam as an "alternative gift from the Church to the Church". At the Nativity Service on 14th December 2008, £150 (and various groceries) were collected for the Swindon Food Bank - thank you to all involved!
During the week of 11th - 17th May, 2008, members of Westlea Church visited streets through Westlea and Eastleaze to deliver envelopes and collect for Christian Aid Week. This year we managed to raise £946.03! Thank you to all who donated. If you missed the chance to give and wish to do so, please go to Christian Aid Week
On Saturday 26th April, 2008 18 members from all 5 churches in the Partnership (and friends) and 1 dog enjoyed the beautiful spring sunshine by walking round part of the Cotswold Water Park. The walk followed a mixture of paths and quiet roads and led to the Cricklade Water meadows where we picnicked among the dandelions, cowslips and snake’s head fritillaries. 80% of the UK's snake's head fritillaries grow here. After lunch we followed the Thames Path back to the start. Click here for more details of where the walk was and pictures of the walk and the flora we saw.
On Sunday 20th April, 2008, 15 members of Westlea Church (and friends) headed down to walk round West Woods. The weather in the run up had not been ideal so the Bluebells were not as spectacular as on previous visits. Another week or two and the blue carpets may well be greater. Despite the previous week, the weather was fine and despite everyone's comments there was NOT that much mud! Click here for more details of where the walk was and pictures of the walk.
We proved a fortnight later that it could be muddier and the Bluebells were better as can be seen in the walk report.
On Thursday 17th April, 2008, 30 children ranging in age from 0 to 8 with their carers took part in a variety of activities at Westlea school arrived at Westlea Church in the School for an afternoon of stories, songs and crafts on the theme of God’s wonderful creation.
After hearing the story of the creation the children scattered to enjoy various crafts. These included decorating animal biscuits, planting seeds, making bird cake, animal masks, stained glass fish,
finger puppets and many more. Energy was expended on some parachute games before the children sat down with their drinks to hear some more stories. More crafts followed and everyone went home tired but happy.
During the afternoon, thanks to the skill of one of our members, the children completed a banner with a creation theme. This will be used each week in Church to help us all focus on God’s wonderful world. This banner is now regularly displayed at the Sunday morning services.
On Sunday 2nd March, 2008, Westlea Church celebrated Fairtrade fortnight by having a Fairtrade breakfast. We followed the breakfast with the Church's Annual General Meeting. The following is a summary of the meeting
- The Leadership team and other positions within the Church were approved.
- The accounts for 2007 were accepted and the budget for 2008 approved. It was noted that the budget for this year will be a challenge for all.
- The charities that Westlea Church support were agreed to be the Emerge project in conjunction with NCounter for the next three years and the Swindon Harbour Project for the next year.
In May 2007 we walked, from Barbury Castle to Ogbourne St George and back.
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Holy Trinity
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St Mary’s
Lydiard Tregoze
Toothill
Westlea
This page last modified 20:53:56 BST on Wed 30 Apr, 2014
