Ryton Methodist Church

The children at this year's holiday club have a special guest with them - a polar explorer!

Hm, he'll need something warmer on his feet with all that ice...

Here's a message  from Sam, our young people's worker, following the post below this:

"Thank you to everyone who supported the Toilet Twinning fundraising efforts. That is all the children/young people for their hard work, all the adults who helped make it happened and everyone who donated money.

Amazingly, we raised £190! That equated to some shop products and two twinned toilets for the church!

The Toilet Twinning charity are thrilled with what we have achieved.

We were also very close to being able to twin a third toilet- only about £20 away. To try and raise that last £20 and get that third toilet, we will be keeping the fundraising going until after Easter. That means people can keep collecting in their boxes over lent and have the money added to the total."

Check out the pictures in the Photo Gallery and let's make sure that the third toilet is twinned as soon as possible. You can go to the charity's website to see what it's all about:

http://www.toilettwinning.org

Our young people are spending this March weekend raising money for a worldwide chairty, Toilet Twinning. Can they raise enough to twin our church toilets with others in places where they are so much needed?

Of course - with your support! 

Look out for more in a photo album coming soon....

Here's Liz and the warehouse team in the  foodbank warehouse in Swalwell, where your donations go for distribution. It's an impressivly efficient system - ask her to tell you all about it! and keep your donations coming in to fill those shelves. So many families in Gateshead still depend on this endeavour.

Our Victorian organ is being restored to its full glory at the moment. And while it's out of action, we've been treated to a rare glimpse of a window normally hidden from view. Take a look and ask Dave or Ron (pictured here) how it came to be there!

Here is a glimpse of the fun had at last month's Messy Church. The theme was Light and be thought about how Jesus is light of the world. Activies included making torches, decorating tea light holders, colouring stain glass windows, a messy experiment and designing edible scrolls. 

Our next session is on Saturday 26th November, 4-6pm. The theme will be Advent and during the meal time will be having a Christmas party. Don't forget Messy Church is free and for all ages. We will look forward to seeing you there and always welcome new people. 

We had a lovely time together, with all ages within our church, from the youngest to the oldest, represented. We enjoyed family fun on the evenings courtesy to Helen, Leonarda and Sam, good food organised by Alison and Lyn, lovely weather, nice walks, shopping(!) and fellowship.

In our periods of devotions we lookedat the story of Joseph and all that he went through in his life, and the weekend was capped off by attending Keswick Methodist Church on the Sunday. See the photo gallery for more.

Over the summer, with the help of many people, we transformed our church hall. We held a special thanksgiving and dedication service to mark this, followed by a Bring and Share lunch. Local Traidcraft rep Gemma joined us with lots of tempting Christmas gifts to buy - pictured with our Minister, Janet.

See more pictures in our Photo Gallery.

David Stoddart gives a judges' eye view of a great morning last Saturday.

'14 competitors vied to see who could make the best scones, with everyone using the same recipe.

Jean Yielder was our very own ‘Mary Berry’ whilst I took on Paul Hollywood role.

The competition was very stiff – fortunately the scones weren’t! The standard was excellent and even the ones that didn’t look good tasted good.

It was also good to be able to go and offer them for free to the local residents of Ryton - Served with jam and cream.

It was good fun and everyone entered into it in that spirit, including our new minister Janet.'

The winner was Anne Stoddart, with Kathleen Breen second and Lyn Cookson third. And the children's winner was Alice Garner. Well done to all!

You'll find more photos in our Harvest photo album.