CHRISTMAS IN ICKENHAM

It may seem a long time ago but it’s not too late to look back on some of the good things that happened during our celebrations of this important event in the Christian calendar. 

The two churches between them held fifteen special services with carol singing and drama, all of which were well attended and much enjoyed. 

St Giles’ organised a Christmas Tree Festival which attracted 23 entries, the most admired being the Short Mat Bowlers’ tree with a ‘Help for Heroes’ theme.  The Christmas Market in St Giles’ Church Hall raised a staggering £2,570, and the URC Christmas Fayre had its best ever result, raising over £2,800.

More successful than ever was Ickenham’s Festive Community Night, arranged by the Ickenham Festival team.  Hundreds of people joined in as charities, shops and restaurants offered late-night hospitality inside and out.  The kind weather also encouraged several groups of musicians and singers to produce their happy sounds. 

Also, throughout December, there was even more carol singing laid on in Ickenham, Uxbridge and at Harefield Hospital. 

 

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS...

Come along to the URC on Saturday 6th March for our fun quiz night.  Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start.  In teams of up to six people, you can pit your wits against the question setters and your fellow competitors.  The cost of £8 per head includes supper (with a choice of fish and chips, sausage and chips, chicken and chips or a veggie option).  Bring your own drinks and nibbles.

To reserve your place, call Kate or Jeremy Day on 01895 673446, or email Kate at Kate1day@aol.com , by 1st March at the latest.  If you have a full team already, that’s great.  If not, we can group you together on the night.

Now, just to warm up – how many clues do you need to work out who this is?

• Studied medicine at the University of London  (difficult)
• Wounded while serving as a military surgeon in Afghanistan  (moderate)
• Established a medical practice in London but was rarely overworked  (easy)
• His best friend could help at Ickenham Hall this month (see page 1 – elementary!)

 

OTHER URC EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY

As well as the Quiz Night, the URC Fundraising Team has plenty in store for 2010.  Note these Saturday dates in your diary now. 

20th March	~	Spring Jumble Sale	11th September	~	Late Summer Forecourt Sale
8th May	~	Plant / Book Sale and Auction	9th October	~	Autumn Jumble Sale
12th June	~	Festival Forecourt Sale	20th November	~	Christmas Fayre

Your support in 2009 meant we raised around £6,500 for the church and our chosen charities, an increase of over 4% on the previous year.  So our thanks go out to all who supported us with donations, assistance and attendance.  Let’s continue to beat the credit crunch this year!  For more details or offers of help, contact Richard Piper on 01895 634348 or richardjpiper@btopenworld.com

 

NO SAUCY PHOTOS!

When Ken Tombs announced that his talk to the Men’s Breakfast was about ‘Photos I don’t usually show’, expectations were understandably varied!  However, he assured us the talk was not about saucy pictures. 

Ken explained that his ‘working life’ had been as a teacher.  When he had reached the rank of deputy head the chance came to take early retirement.  This gave him the opportunity to become much more active as St Giles’ Church Honorary Curate and also pursue his three favourite activities: travel, good food and photography and the three combine remarkably well. 

With Ken’s lively commentary, we were shown a thought-provoking collection of images from the Far East, highlighting a lifestyle far removed from our own.  We saw temples intermingled with trees, floating houses and churches, petrol being sold by the bottle to moped owners, and mopeds with four passengers hanging on somehow.  There were town traffic jams to beat anything we experience in Europe and Ken explained it can take ten minutes to cross the road.  “You just step out and keep walking”, he said.  “If you keep going they’ll somehow avoid you; if you stop, they’ll hit you!” 

After beautiful scenery featuring mountains and lakes, we turned to food.  This included fried frogs, bats, pigs’ brains and, lovely to behold, fried tarantulas.  And Health and Safety was scarcely evident when we saw the balancing acts that native builders performed every working day. 

We took a look at religious activities wherein a Catholic Church displayed a crucifix alongside a buffalo totem pole.  And then we visited factories whose workers were mentally handicapped as a direct legacy of the chemical sprays used during the Vietnam War.  The pictures were even more disturbing in the Phnom Penn Prison Museum, recording the almost unbelievable atrocities that had taken place. 

“Where was God when all this happened?” Ken asked.  “Well, in the compassion shown by many who were involved at the time and now amongst the people who are helping those affected, particularly with children building a new life”. 

And where were we?  As a human race, we have much to answer for.