Singing to shoppers 

On a bright sunny Sunday morning at 10 o'clock on 28 June 2009, members of St Andrew's congregation sang hymns to the passing shoppers in the street below. Unusually, the church patio where people gathered is on the first floor above a row of shops, a cafe and the entrance to Cathedral Plaza Shopping Centre. Although shoppers couldn't see who was in full voice from above - they could certainly hear every note around many of the city's shopping streets.

To solve the mystery of the hidden voices, one of the 'welcome stewards'  was outside the church entrance in Pump Street handing out leaflets to passers-by. These gave details of St Andrew's services and events, and invited members of the public to join the worship. Popular hymns were the order of the day and the singing lasted for 20 minutes - followed by morning worship at 10.30 am.

After the success of the event, St Andrew's will be reviewing whether there should be a rematch!

Life Skills Celebration

St Andrew's was the scene of some light-hearted fun and games on Wednesday morning

Over 30 young adults who have been meeting each week in the church hall as part of their Life Skills course, celebrated the end of an era with a short reception arranged by members of St Andrew's congregation on Wednesday 24 June 2009. The young people are all students at Worcester College of Technology and have learning and physical disabilities.

Party time

As part of a regular booking, tutors and a group of volunteers arranged by the college, have been coming to St Andrews during term time for sessions that help the students develop their social skills, exercise and interact with one another as a group. The college tutors and their volunteers arranged a party for the young people that involved lots of physical team games, a singing competition and dancing. Staff and students all entered into the spirit of the event with gusto - and funny hats.

Cakes and pop

This was the first time members of the congregation had been involved in such an event for the students - and hopefully will not be the last. Hot sausage rolls, cakes, biscuits, crisps and other savoury snacks, plus tea, coffee and pop were served and consumed in their entirety without any prompting during a short break in the partying. Rev Anne Smith spoke briefly to the students congratulating them on completing their course and inviting them to come along to Saturday Morning Coffee - and services on Sunday. A number of students gave their thanks to their tutors and volunteers for the support they had been given during the year.

Doubts about the future

With cutbacks and redundancies at the college, the future of the Life Skills course is uncertain, despite their being no reductions in the number of young people with learning difficulties in Worcester. St Andrew's will try to offer whatever support it can to ensure similar activities take place from the start of next academic year. 

Voices in Harmony Concert

Saturday 25 July 2009 at 7.00 pm

St Andrew's Methodist Church, Pump Street, Worcester

Tickets: £5.00 - to include light refreshments served in the hall after the concert

Details of the programme are still to be announced, but will include a selection of sacred and secular music. The recital will last for about 1 hour 30 minutes (no interval) and will be followed by refreshments.

The choir is based at Lawrence Lane Methodist Church, Cradley Heath, and has about 70 singing members. Its aim is to introduce all people to the joys of singing as a choir - both sacred and secular compositions. Its members, male and female of all ages, meet to develop their knowledge, skills and techniques and sing for their own pleasure. Each year, the choir has a full programme of concerts that mainly take place in the West Midlands.

All proceeds to the St Andrew's Methodist Church Development Fund

Tickets available in advance, or on the door

For further information contact: Gwynne Evans: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

See also: Voices in Harmony Website