Special services and events are held throughout the year at Gig Mill Methodist Church.

Easter, Harvest Festival, Christingle and Christmas services of worship are enjoyed at Gig Mill, as at all other churches : We also hold Choir Nights, Sunday School Musicals, the Sunday School Anniversary, Prizegivings, Talent Shows, Trips and other events.   Have a look and see what we've been up to ! Please click on the headings below...

Gig Mill's Sunday School Anniversary - 10th July 2005

Farewell to David Robb

Gig Mill's 24 Hours Of Music -23rd-24th July 2005

Gig Mill Church Trip to Longleat and Winchcombe - 6th August 2005

John Sparry : "From Marconi to Mrs Dale" - 10th September 2005

The Handicraft Club 2005

Send A Cow - Christmas 2005

Gig Mill's Sunday School Anniversary

10th July 2005

This year's Sunday School Anniversary took the theme of "Stars In Their Eyes", the popular television show where members of the public assume the guises of their heroes. The show was due to be compered by Gig Mill's long-time friend, Rev Janet Roe, but when Janet was unable to attend (and with no disrespect meant to Janet...) we found a star of our own in her stand-in ! Brierley Hill's Kevin Gripton became, for the day, either Leslie Crowther, Matthew Kelly, or Kat Deeley (!) and cut a dapper figure on such a hot summer Sunday as he presented the show.

The Sunday School Children were interviewed by Kevin, each adopting the roles of characters who had stories of witness to tell. In the morning, the heroes were characters from the Bible - Zacchaeus, St Peter, Doubting Thomas and Jacob - and in the evening service, more contemporary Christians like Cannon and Ball, Helen Shapiro, Bernhard Langer and Sir Cliff Richard.

Here is a photo gallery of the "show".

The Stars of the Show

Kevin Gripton, our host	Zacchaeus
Tonight, Matthew...	...I'm going to be Thomas !
Through the Magic Door	Bernhard Langer

Farewell to David Robb

All things must pass, and the work of the Church goes on : and after four years at Gig Mill Church, our minister Rev David Robb has been called to continue his ministry elsewhere - a new church, a new challenge for Dave, his wife Sue and their family.

They leave Gig Mill with our Church's fondest love, wishes and prayers for their future.

David Robb's Leaving Party 22nd July 2005

Partygoers	In the Party Spirit
Waiting for Robb	Not exactly Folk Music...
All Things Bright And Beautiful	Mike's Monologue
Inspiration strikes	Just Like That !
Lost for words	Sermon Time
Suspicious ? Moi ?	Sue lets him get on with it

David Robb's last Service 14th August 2005

David Robb on guitar	David Robb on air guitar !
Wolves supporter	Jesus says to me... I LOVE YA !
balloons	David and Sue Robb

Gig Mill's 24 Hours Of Music

23rd-24th July 2005

Over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th July, members of the Choir, Congregation and friends of Gig Mill Church held a 24 hour continuous Musical Marathon Extravaganza !

From 10:45am on the Saturday, throughout the night till 10:45am on the Sunday, a different musical act each hour performed for the public in the church premises : acts ranging from organists and other musicians, through taize style singing, bands, duos and folk singers, to established choirs and choral societies. Refreshments were provided.for performers and audiences alike, and the artists were sponsored to play, with all proceeds going to the church's renovation fund.

Stop Press : the final total raised was £1842.45. What a brilliant result ! Well done and thank you to everyone !

And here is a photo gallery of the proceedings !

Rocking at Gig Mill

The crowd goes wild

Give me the moonlight...

The Gentlemen Songsters

The Lost Chord

Lady Flautists

Busy Bees

The Choir

The Bostoffs

daytime Malcy	singers
Nick	A song at bedtime
Sleeping Beauty	Like Father, like Son
Around Midnight	An enraptured audience
Thrilled beyond measure	jim-jams and recorder

The Conga-regation !

Gig Mill Church Trip to Longleat and Winchcombe

6th August 2005

Joy Jeffrey writes :

The weather was unpromising but as soon as we arrived, the sun came out ! Some of us toured the stately house, some enjoyed being a kid again on the miniature railway, some had a boat ride, being chased by the seals, while others marvelled at the many-coloured, beautiful butterflies. But we all toured the safari park and saw the animals looking at us, probably thinking "Oh ! More people in those tin cans on wheels being nosy again."

Then we all enjoyed a lovely meal at Janet Roe's church in Winchcombe, where we were once again made very welcome. Janet looked well and sends her love to everyone. Thanks are due to Brenda and Doreen for arranging the outing once again. It was a wonderful day !

Steamer Ride	Beautiful plumage
King of Beasts	Deer
Zebra	Giraffes

Janet Roe weilds the kettle

"From Marconi to Mrs Dale"

John Sparry 10/9/05

Joy Jeffrey writes :

What a wonderful evening we spent in the company of local historian and musician from Wall Heath, John Sparry.

We had everything - nostalgia, good laughs, one-man acting, local and national history, and piano played in a great jazz style. Our thanks are due to John for helping us remember all the catchphrases, jokes and intro music of those long-ago BBC Wireless shows (it didn't seem so long ago !) : and we marvelled at how times, and values, had changed - not always for the better !

Thanks are also due to Delia Page for arranging this talk and for the lovely refreshments.

John Sparry

The Handicraft Club 2005

 

The Handicraft Club raised £375 in 2005. Donations of £100 were sent to the Tsunami Fund, £200 to Mary Steven's Hospice, and £75 to church funds. The Group would like to thank everyone who supported them through the year.

Thanks are also due to Peggy and the nimble-fingered ladies of the Handicraft Group.

Send A Cow

Christmas 2005

At Christmas, rather than spending a lot of money on individual Christmas cards for each other, the Gig Mill congregation send one card to the whole church, and make a donation to a good cause from the money saved.
This year, Gig Mill's church council have approved donating the proceeds to an imaginative charity called Send A Cow !

Send A Cow is a Christian organisation which gives direct, practical help to poor farmers in Africa by providing them with livestock such as cows, pigs, goats and poultry as well as training and veterinary advice : supporting the farmers and their families in their efforts to find lasting solutions to the problems of poverty and malnutrition.

Many Christian organisations are supporting Send A Cow's work this year : you may have read in a recent "Express and Star" of Canon Jim Pendorf, a vicar in St Albans and a fundraising expert, whose employers have allowed him to move to a new parish in Ipswich which can make much needed use of his fundraising skills - only on the condition that his new bosses agree to their transfer fee... of two cows ! Send A Cow will transfer the cows to a farmer in Uganda : and Gig Mill hope that we can do our bit too this Christmas.

 

SEND A COW update !

Our Church raised £185 for Send A Cow, which we found wasn't quite enough to send a whole cow... but we were delighted to find that £185 would buy

2 day training sessions, 3 sheep, 100 fruit trees, vegetable seeds and training, 1 beehive, 20 chickens, fishing net for four farmers, 30 fruit tree saplings and tools to dig a pond !