The homilies project was developed so that a congregation can engage in study and discussion of the lectionary when a Priest or Reader are not available to lead the service. The files include the gospel reading, details of the other readings for the week, the homily itself which can be read out loud, discussion points and the collect for the week. They are written by a variety of people, including our bishops and archdeacons, and they are intended to be used by lay leaders who are not authorised to preach.
Hats for Uganda
Towards the end of 2023 a friend on Facebook said they would soon be going to visit Uganda and would like to take a suitcase full of knitted hats for a children's centre in Mbale: he said "If you know of knitters who'd like to participate, or would like to make a hat yourself, thank you!"
The Walesby Group of Parishes knitting group (known as the Clickety Clickers) picked up on this with great enthusiasm and started producing hats. We also work with a group of ladies from the church in Cherry Willingham and they too started on the project. In the space of just a few weeks over 100 hats were knitted in a huge variety of bright colours and, in late February, they were packed up and began their journey with about 400 other hats to Uganda. All the hats were vacuum-packed in three suitcases for ease of transport and distributed at the LOVED children's centre who care for malnourished children and help their parents with ongoing care for their children with disabilities resulting from malnutrition.
In the photograph Bex Henderson, the founder of LOVED, is on the extreme right, front row. After receiving and distributing the hats Bex sent us a message of thanks:
"A huge thank you to everyone who knitted hats for LOVED Children's Centre. Each of the children in the day centre received a new hat (perfect for the rainy days) and we were also able to give lots out to the local community as well as two nearby hospitals. So much JOY was had by all!"
The ladies said that it was wonderful to have played a small part in this amazing venture and were delighted to receive the photographs and to hear how well the hats were received. We have now gone back to making hats and scarves for the homeless shelter in Grimsby; blankets and fiddle muffs for local nursing homes and Grimsby hospital; and fulfilling specific requests from the emergency services for trauma teddies; from the Grimsby Woman`s refuge and special requests from premature baby units locally.
Thank you to all the ladies for all that they do and for their amazing outreach to so many. If you would like to join our group please contact me. We meet once a month and wool and needles are provided if required.
Revd Elaine
