Community Treasures
Over the last month we've started preparing for our
'treasure'themed day long holiday club in early September. As I've
been busy with this there have been a few things that have caused me to think
about the individuals in our villages that we might appropriately call
'Community Treasures'. Often, however, we only really recognise the
contributions of such people once they have left us.
At the end of June, for example, RE:NEW had a leaving event (with picnic and bouncy castle) for the curate Jonathan Dowman and his wife Emma. A large number of people came to this and to other farewell events, and this was testimony of the way that so many people will miss them. They brought energy, creativity, friendship and love to their ministry. Those of us that worked with them, and those who were blessed by knowing them, can honestly tell their new church in Birmingham that our loss is their gain.
In July, a few weeks later, was the annual coffee morning hosted by pupils at Bottisham Primary School in aid of Macmillan Nursing and in memory of Frances Morrill -a staff member and governor at the school. Having met Frances shortly before she died I know why she is so fondly remembered. Over the last month some of you may also have seen in the local news tributes paid to a young lady called Keziah Smit, who worked for Newmarket Youth for Christ and was tragically killed on the A14.
Why don't we tell those special people in our community how much we appreciate them while they are still with us? Well, perhaps we can! I'm not sure how, but I'm wondering whether we might be able to include some way of recognising our local 'community treasures', perhaps during the evening event following the holiday club on Saturday 11th September. I'll let you know how the plans develop, but at this stage I'm inviting you to do one or two things:
- Send me the name of a 'community treasure' telling me why they deserve to be recognised.
- Write a card or short note to the people you treasure saying 'thank you'for who they are.
As I said, we'll be exploring the theme of treasure a bit more at our holiday club which forms part of our 'Big Welcome Weekend'on 11th and 12th September. You can contact me over the summer to register your children, although you'll find more details in next month's magazine. Have a good break.