ACTION AND OUTREACH

 

  • The Mothers' Union is all about Families.
  • Caring for families around the world and in our own country.
  • All our projects are centred on our Christian Faith seeking to support marriage and encourage family life.

 

Projects update...

Portsmouth Diocese - Away From It All Holidays

 

By the time you read this we hope to have had a successful Sponsored Walk round Langstone Harbour on May 8th 2011!

This is really a make or break year for AFIA in view of the financial problems but I still have faith that we can continue to offer a week's loving Christian support to 10 families from our Diocese. We have the team together under Sue Lambert's thoughtful guidance, the dates are set - Saturday 30th July till Saturday 6th August, at Lodge Hill, West Sussex and we already have 6 families identified to take!

We hope to see as many of you as possible at our major fund raising event at All Sanits Church, Denmead on Saturday 16th July from 10.30 till 3.30 with a Botley member's husband's Morris men - the Wickham Morris! There is a fancy dress parade for the children and all day refreshments organised by Denmead branch to whom we are particularly grateful! So far we have a number of stalls including a cake stall. We would be pleased to receive cakes, scones, savouries, preserves etc from any member of this stall. Please bring them along on the day.

There will also be games and a Grand Draw. For those who are unable to attend we would value your prayers and ask you to hold all the families and volunteers in your hearts for the holiday.

 

Yours in faith,

 

Margaret Leslie A&O, Unit Co-ordinator, Portsmouth Diocese.

 

 

 

Parenting update for the Diocese

 

Following up on last quarter's item on parenting, I do hope you will all manage to find a few moments to complete the attached questionnaire! For us Mothers union members in the UK we seek to promote Mary Sumner's ideals and God's love in our work with families whether in helping with "Tiny Tots" with all their various names, from "Flutterbies" to Teeny Tiny Tots or in running Baby groups, Messy Church and a whole range of activities including Away From It All holidays but we have been hesitant to organise Parenting Courses as promoted by Mary Sumner House in Passionate About Parenting. I suspect this has been a realisation about the large commitment necessary! However, on 22nd March 2011, I spent an interesting and valuable morning with Abbey Rice, the coordinator for Parenting courses run by Portsmouth City Council. She is an inspiring young woman who seems to have made an impressive impact over her 2 years in post! They have 3 main courses, "Incredible Years" for the 2-5 year olds, "Triple P" Positive Parenting Programme for children up to 11 years and Mellow parenting for 0-4 year olds. There might be an opportunity for Mothers Union members to act as volunteers in the triple P courses but it would involve some initial training followed by 4 weekly sessions of 2 hours at local venues and a final group session at the end of the 8 week course (sessions 5, 6 and 7 are by telephone with the facilitators). This type of work would perhaps be valuable for younger Mothers Union members who are looking to return to work or start work in a care setting. The 8 week sessions run in term time. I have already written that we can also use Chichester Diocese MU training courses if we have members who find they have a group of parents in their area who would benefit from a course where the parents require the support of a loving church! Do let me know your views and thank you to those who have already responded I am compiling a list of projects for the Diocese.

 

Margaret Leslie A&O, Unit Co-ordinator, Portsmouth Diocese.