GORSE HILL BAPTIST CHURCH SUMMER PICNIC

Hello Lovely Blippers,

I don’t suppose you expected to see any of the Silly Saturday Gang again today, but when we heard that the HCBs were going to their Church picnic today, after the service, we thought it would be great to join them.  However, Mrs. HCB said that only a few of us could go, so we had to draw lots and you can see that only five of us got to go.

You won’t believe that they left us out in a hot car while they were enjoying themselves in the Church, but we understand it was very hot in there this morning too.  

In the second row of Mrs. HCB’s collage you can see Maureen, in the foreground, who was the preacher - although not at the picnic, of course, and not Mrs. HCB we hasten to add.   In her sermon, Maureen told us that when the Church gets its new Minister in September, it will be a new phase and a new season, when all the people who attend will need to grow and develop under someone else’s leadership and not compare the new Minister with the one who retired three years ago.  She talked about planting seeds and said that her young great-niece had told her that growing seeds means you have to be patient - a timely reminder for many of us.  At the end of the service everyone received a little butterfly that had seeds in it and Maureen encouraged everyone to plant this and see what comes up - but said again that patience is needed.

Her sister, Jackie is sitting next to Maureen and her husband, John, used to be the Minister at Gorse Hill some years ago, so we she said that people mustn’t compare the new Minister to him either.

On the other side of the middle row you can see Lesia, who played the piano this morning, with Mark, Jackie’s son and Maureen’s nephew, leading the service and playing guitar and we understand that Abi and Mrs. HCB were both singing.  It sounded good to us from where we were, sitting in the car park.

After the service, coffee was served and then we all drove over to Lydiard Park, a country park on the outskirts of Swindon, with a mansion, which you can see at the top right, built in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The formal gardens have been turned into a park and anyone can enjoy this wonderful area. At the bottom left you can see the walled entrance to the park.

Lots of people from the Church arrived from 1 o’clock onwards and very soon there were about 50 people in a great big circle, including us.  Everyone had brought food of various sorts - but we all laughed when we saw that two people had brought not only food, but also a table and on the table was a tablecloth complete with a rose in a vase - some people know how to do it “proper”!  And that wasn’t the end - they also had china plates, whereas most of the others had either plastic ones or no plates at all!  And then out came the glasses!  Well, talk about posh - they were “proper posh”!   Just when we thought that was it, out came the umbrella parasol - oh my, we all learned something today - come prepared and look posh!  Another good thing was that when we all moved around to chat, we shared the food of the people we sat with - how good is that?

At the end, when the HCBs were about to leave, Mrs. HCB saw another photo opportunity when two of the men were sitting underneath the parasol and enjoying the sunshine and a chat.

We had a wonderful time and we know everyone else did too - the children were very well behaved and there were quite few of them playing football - although a couple of the menfolk did join in.  

Apparently, this was organised by the Pastoral Care Team and we are sure they will be delighted that so many people turned up.  

We can’t wait for the next one! 

Love to you all from some of the Silly Saturday Gang :
Bertie Bowood, Zappi, Tumbletuft, Gobbi and Catrina the Cat xxx