Community Counts at Minster Lovell Methodist Church

Updates

16 December 2019
All future updates will be on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mlcommunityproject/

26 November 2019 – We met last week and reviewed the attendance at the various Wednesday activities. As a result starting in 2020 we are rationalising and simplifying what we offer to the village. Saturday Cafe goes from strength to strength and will continue every Saturday 10:00-12:00. On the first Wednesday of every month starting in February we will offer
-Light lunch 12:00-14:00
-Craft Plus (all manner of creative activities) 14:30-16:30
-Tech Support 18:00-20:00

18 October 2019 – numbers at Saturday Cafe continue to grow which is amazing! We have a new "proper coffee maker" that does steamed milk now too – so refined! There is a major push towards more home made cakes which people have brought along just to share which is lovely. All are welcome so come along every Saturday 10:00-12:00.

18 September 2019 – timetable for the rest of the year! (Not forgetting Saturday Cafe every Saturday 10:00-12:00)

All our events can be seen on https://nextdoor.co.uk/events/calendar/

December

November

October

09 September 2019 – This last week saw the first session of "Sew, knit, or any craft you bring along" while Saturday Cafe continues to run and attract new people :-)

01 September 2019 – September's Wednesday events!

22 July 2019 – Saturday Cafe continues and is going to until the end of the year :-) We have our rota for the Wednesday sessions starting on 4 September and to run for 6 months. Publicity to follow. Tonight we have an extraordinary Church Council to seek money from the Church fellowship to get WiFi in the church and allow us to buy storage cupboards and a new sign.

6 July 2019 – Saturday Cafe starts today – check it out
here

29 June 2019 – today is leafleting day see the leaflet we are distributing today here

We have decided to...
- Run a weekly Saturday cafe 10:00-12:00 from 6 July prior to...
- Starting every Wednesday from September with our combination of time to just be social and a planned activity. Times will vary over a five week cycle
- Leafleting to advertise both will be done on Saturday 29 June

Next step – meet to to reflect on what we have learned from our conversations help at the open morning

Here is the lovely sign to let people know of the open morning...

Next stop Open morning on SATURDAY 4 May 10:00-12:00

Summary is done!

The results show we have a great opportunity to offer...

1) An open, welcoming, friendly place
It's clear that many people want a place to meet one another. Whether for conversation, support, nourishment, relaxation or just to get to know one another, we need a place that is easy to drop into and where we can stay for as long as we want. A place that is informal and relaxed, where it is easy to talk and to be heard – whatever your age.

2) An interesting, stimulating place
A larger space can be thought-provoking as well as welcoming. Big walls can showcase artistic talent, be a source of information and signpost support, engage with the mind as well as the heart. Our community is rich with diverse experience – what could we learn from one another if only we met regularly?

3) A place to do things together
Doing things together is fun! From watching a film to attending a fitness class, time together is enlivening, life-affirming and joyous. People who do things together grow closer as they discover the things they share. Doing things with others gets our own lives into perspective and gives us a wider vision of the world and our place in it.

Next steps

Now the leaflets are out in the village with drop off points at the Spar and Post Office, we await responses...The collection boxes will be gathered 31 March/1 April and we can then start analysing the feedback to find out what the village thinks we can use a redeveloped building for.

Leaflets!

Here is our lovely leaflet with its questionnaire in the middle

The task...

...and (part of) the tired but victorious team who today completed the leafleting of the whole village (note glorious cake)

Plans are afoot!

Here is a summary of what we discussed on 13 February 2019:
- Create the content of a covering letter explaining the purpose of the attached questionnaire and the questionnaire itself
- Get this content styled professionally
- Photocopy the covering letter and questionnaire so it can be distributed to every house in Minster Lovell
- Saturday 23 March 10:00- Distribute the letter/questionnaire to every home starting and returning to the church for tea and cake
- Saturday 30 March 10:00- Collect the questionnaires from the same houses
- Analyse the results of the questionnaire and produce a summary leaflet
- Saturday 4 May 10:00-13:00 Host an open morning at the church where the results of the questionnaire and the summary leaflet can be distributed
- Sunday 12 May 13:00- Distribute the summary leaflet to every home starting and returning to the church for tea and cake

Background
Following an extraordinary Church Council on 5 February 2019 a small group of us will be trying to discern where the church fellowship want to go with their mission and hence their future building plans.

We meet for the first time on 13 February at 8:30pm at the Village Hall and we'll be working through the suggestion on the Church Build website