 |
Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
|
|
|
Pentecost Banquetby Catherine SacréOn 14th May Churches Together in Barnes hosted our 11th Pentecost Banquet. We seated over seventy elderly guests in the Barnes Green Social Centre, by courtesy of Age Concern. The staff at the Centre provided much helpful advice and support to the organiser. It is the ideal venue with easy access and wonderful facilities, including an industrial dishwasher. We hope we can meet there again next year. It all began on the Church’s Feast of Pentecost in 1995 with a London-wide inter-church initiative called the 'Great Banquet', which aimed to 'encourage the Churches to consider a broader ecumenical vision'. Here in Barnes we have made this an annual party for the older members of the community from all denominations and none. We invite people from the various sheltered housing schemes and Viera Grey House, and are indebted to FiSH for giving us the contact details of many others. This year we held the event at lunchtime, which seems to have been a good idea. Many of the guests commented that they would not have felt able to come if it had been in the evening, so we plan to keep to lunch in the future. Thanks to the many willing drivers and, this year, the FiSH Bus, which is perfect for those who are wheelchair bound, we were able to offer our guests a lift to and from the party. The room looked very festive with lovely flowers on each table. Lunch, which had been beautifully prepared by cooks from all the Churches (with the Pavlova meringue and strawberries being perhaps the highlight!), began with a word from Father Logan, this year's chairman of CTiB, before saying grace. Then all were served by the positively professional 'waiting team' who were kept busy with offers of 'seconds' and passing crockery to the valiant behind-the scenes washing-up group in the kitchen. Afterwards, June Hodgson sang. With the party ended the helpers were still hard at work trolleying the extra chairs back to the Methodist Hall and tidying and cleaning up. Huge thanks are due to these helpers, some of whom have been involved since the first year. It is not possible to name them all but special thanks must go to Iain Radford – organiser of the event for the past ten years – whose invaluable advice and help was greatly appreciated. Our guests were wonderfully appreciative – 'it was a really good party!' Someone noted after the event that 'This was not the six Churches Together in Barnes, but the one Church of Christ overflowing with the Holy Spirit'. We hope to continue and build on this tradition for many years to come. |
|
