Easter Praise

Final details from Sunday 7th March!

 

Be Part of the Easter Praise Virtual Choir!

For our Easter Praise event on Easter Sunday, we’re putting together a virtual choir and we’d love you to be a part of it! Here’s what you have to do…

1) Download the backing track (to save on a computer, right click and 'save link as') and lyrics 

2) Record yourself singing the song

IMPORTANT - you’ll need to be listening to the track so you’re singing at the right speed and pitch, but we only want a recording of you singing, not the music. To do this, listen to the music on headphones on one device and record yourself on another. Computers, smartphones and tablets should all do the trick. Make sure you’re near the devices’ microphone, but not so near that the recording distorts.

TIP - you might find it easier to sing if you have the headphones slightly off one of your ears so you can hear yourself without straining 

3) Send your recording to choir@wormleyfreechurch.org.uk. If your file is too large to email, try using https://wetransfer.com a free service for sending larger files. We will need your recordings by the 26th March at the latest, and the sooner the better. Don’t worry about sounding perfect, instead just enjoy yourself singing. You’ll find that even if none of us are going to win awards for our vocal talents, once our voices are layered together - and I’ll use different voices at different sections - that it will sound fantastic!

 

World Day of Prayer Service, Friday 5th March

‘Build on a Strong Foundation’

10.30am, login from 10:15am

Written by the women from Vanuatu 

Everyone is invited to bring a special stone to the virtual service

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88171583197?pwd=Q0dVRXVGbTVlT0FaZDIrR1d2bUNVZz09
Meeting ID: 881 7158 3197
Passcode: 907581

After the Carols... What's Happing Next?

Please note, the Drive-In Carols have had to move online due to the Tier Four restrictions. See below this post.

Want to know more about Jesus? Faith? The Church?

If you enjoyed the carols and would like to find out more about Jesus you might be interested in one of the following events:

Online Alpha with Wormley Free Church

Tuesday 19th June, 2020 at 8pm

Find out more: wormleyfreechurch.org.uk/alpha/

Youth

Christmas

If you're looking for further Christmas Celebrations, have a look at our individual church websites where up to date details will be posted. Please be aware that due to the pandemic, these are subject to change, and physical services may require booking.

Hoddesdon Baptist Church Christmas Services

Christmas Family Service Sunday 20th December 10:00 am
Christmas Day Celebration Friday 25th December 10:00 am
You are very welcome to join us for any of our services. At the moment our services are on Zoom. Please see the front page of our website for log on details. If you would like to attend in person, to book a place, please email church.secretary@hoddesdonbaptist.org.uk

Wormley Free Church

Drive In Carols (UPDATED DUE TO TIER FOUR)

Sadly, due to the Tier Four restrictions announced today, we can non longer meet at Paradise Wildlife Park. HOWEVER, we are determined to celebrate Christmas, and so we are now holding it online instead! The service will be streamed at 5.30pm below, and will be available to catch up later. The song sheet can be downloaded here.

Updates from Churches Together

WINTER NIGHT SHELTER

The churches will not be able to provide a Winter Night Shelter this winter, because of the restrictions due to Covid-19. To support single homeless people this winter, the Council has received a ‘Next Steps Accommodation’ grant, which will enable them to provide alternative accommodation. They have also received funds for support workers, to help the single homeless with mental health problems, alcohol and drug problems, in the hopes that they can enable them to cope better with everyday life and keep their accommodation.

In the meantime, the Winter Night Shelter team has been helping the Council with people being housed, who have not got the basic bedding and kitchen equipment they need. The Winter Night Shelter has been providing Starter Packs containing bedding, towels, pans, crockery, cutlery, a toaster and a kettle. These Starter Packs are being stored in Barclay Hall, and the clients come to the church car park to collect them.

The Winter Night Shelter has also been working in partnership with the Street Pastors to support homeless people who do not feel they can cope with support from the Council. Items such as a simple mobile phone, sleeping bag, rucksack, warm clothes etc are being given to homeless people located by the Street Pastors.

PEACE COTTAGE

Plans are developing for the use of Peace Cottage as a Community Centre, with an accompanying Community Garden. Some work needs to be done on the building to make it more structurally sound. A structural survey was undertaken at the beginning of this month, and this will help to inform the Quakers of the immediate needs for work on the building. There also needs to be better heating installed, and a hot water system. Applications for funding for the building and the activities within it, have been started. 

It is likely that work on the Community Garden will be able to start more quickly. There are some volunteers who are keen to work on the site, and this work is likely to start soon. This project has also been put forward for ‘Green Social Prescribing’.

LISTENING TEAM

The Listening Team will be called Hear4U. We have 16 people who are interested in volunteering for the Listening Team. The trained listeners can be involved in helping people in several ways:

• In 1:1 listening sessions

• By supporting the Bereavement Support Group

• By joining a walking group, and listening alongside individuals on the group

• By joining the volunteers for the Peace Cottage Garden and listening to people in that setting.

The plans are for training to take place between November and March, and for Hear4U to start in April 2021.

WELCOME TO BREWERY ROAD FLATS

Twenty-two new flats are being built by B3 Living in Brewery Road, Hoddesdon, as rented accommodation for the over 55s. They are due to be ready by the end of January 2021. Plans are being developed by Churches Together, Love Hoddesdon and local partners, to give Welcome Packs to the new residents. The welcome packs will contain information about Hoddesdon and local activities, along with information about the churches in Hoddesdon, a few goodies, like tea, coffee, biscuits etc., and a Welcome card.

Easter Greetings from Churches Together

Normally Churches Together would mark and celebrate Easter in the centre of Hoddesdon with an open air service on Good Friday - we had plans to do this yesterday as normal. As we all know, the 'lockdown' has put an end to this, at least for this Easter. This doesn't mean that we're not celebrating, however, with many of our churches hosting online services - do check out their websites on the Churches page.

We've also put together a short message with representatives of some of our fellowships to share our Easter greetings this special weekend.