Hornby St. Margaret’s Mothers’ Union Annual Report for 2019

The branch has had a successful year with an interesting and varied programme. Membership at the beginning of the year remained at nineteen with two of these being ‘indoor’ members. Meetings of the group took place each month and I would like to thank our Secretary Josie Baynes and Treasurer Anne Pettifor for all they do. They and committee members, Doreen Airey, Jean Webster, Hilary Rawsthorne and Thelma Bennet along with members enabled continuity by ensuring speakers and guests were welcomed, the meetings ran smoothly and the annual meal organised when I took time out over the summer to travel around the coast of Scotland. I would also like to thank our clergy: Michael for his support and input into our programme, Sister Judith for officiating and reading at our Deanery Festival and also Anne Pettifor for officiating at our Wave of Prayer Service. We are also very grateful to all the speakers who have given their time to inform us about their work and interests.

On January the16th we had our Jacobs Join lunch and annual general meeting. As always the food contributions resulted in a real feast. We heard the reports and introduced the theme for the year: ‘Listen, observe, act – in step with God’. I played some pieces on my harp.

At our meeting on the 20th of February our speaker was Diane Watson from the voluntary organisation ‘Homestart’, where she is both a volunteer and a trustee. Their aim is to support young families by matching them with a volunteer who visits regularly and shares parenting skills, gives encouragement and helps to build confidence. This ties in well with the aims of our organisation. We were able to supply information about the Mothers’ Union ‘Away from it All caravan’ that is available for those in need of a holiday.

The March meeting was on the theme of Pilgrimage and Derek Seber gave a very interesting talk on his experience of walking on the Santiago de Compostela.

I attended the MU Deanery meeting at Bolton – le- Sands on the 21st of March.

On April the 17th Michael Hampson was the speaker and on May 15th Tanya Shaw from Cumbria visited to read poetry on theme of the beauty of nature. Please see the secretary’s report for further details of these and the August coffee morning for which I was away on my travels.

The 26th of June saw us hosting the Deanery Festival at Hornby Saint Margaret’s Church on the theme ”Uncovering the Tracks: Inspirational Women in Our Community and Beyond.” Prior to this I had met with Mr Stafford Roberts at the village primary school and agreed on a shared project as part of our festival. Three local inspirational women went into the school to talk about what they do and the children joined us at the service to give presentations about this work. Many thanks to Janet Towers, (Air Ambulance), Juliet Burd, (Christian Restoration Ministries International) and Juliet McGrattan, (261 Fearless womens running organisation). Whilst people were arriving photos were projected showing examples of inspiring women from many walks of life. The service was very well attended. I made the introductory remarks and spoke about the inspirational women in my life. Prayers were led by our Deanery Chaplain Susan Seed (who was enrolled into this post by her predecessor at the service); Enid Nutall (Diocesan President) did a presentation on the ‘Mothers Union Listens Observes and Acts (MULOA)’ global listening process and Sister Judith as well as officiating did the reading ‘The Desert Waiting’ with Anne Pettifor. We all enjoyed a splendid afternoon tea afterwards in church.

The first Saturday in August saw us hold our annual coffee morning.

In September we had a very interesting talk from one of the ‘Street Pastors’, who explained how they help to keep young people safe on nights out in Lancaster.

October the 16th was our annual service in church taken by Anne Pettifor where we followed the MU Wave of Prayer service, focusing on linked dioceses across the world. We joined hands at the end which was a very spiritual experience. Following the service we enjoyed tea and scones, made by members.

On the 14th of November I attended the Deanery Meeting at Bolton-le-Sands.

On the 20th of November our meeting was linked to Remembrance Day and our prayers were on the theme of ‘Peace and Reconciliation’. Visitors joined us for a wonderful talk from Liz Allison on the topic of ‘War Graves.’ This evolved into a very personal and moving account of Liz’s great uncle Reginald Huw Legge, who served in a New Zealand rifle brigade. Photographs and an account of the talk have been sent for publication in MU News.

On Wednesday the 4th of December our prayers focused on advent and I talked about the meaning of the candles in the advent wreath and read the hymn ‘How Lovely is the Mountain.’ We sang ‘I the Lord of Sea and Sky’. We were joined by Michael and the prayer group and everyone was delighted to hear David Peacock talk about his work as head of a teacher training college in London. He was persuaded to return again next December to give us the next chapter of his life. We finished the meeting with tea and mince pies and Thelma regaled us with her very entertaining rendition of ‘The Yorkshire Messiah’.

Throughout the year Jenny Healey has continued to send baptism anniversary cards to all those baptized in our benefice over the last five years. Thank you Jenny.

Home visits have been made to several members over the year. Very sadly we lost one of our longest serving members during the summer – Jean James. She is greatly missed. As I write this I have just learnt of the death of another much loved member, Dorothy Jarvis whom I enrolled in my first year as Branch Leader four years ago.

The MU international theme for 2020 is ‘Building hope and confidence’, and we have another wide ranging programme of local meetings lined up.

Rose Roberts – Branch Leader 12/01/2020

Back to annual reports