Goldsworth News 2008 : 012 St Andrews Church Easter News

Goldsworth News 2008 : 012 St Andrews Church Easter News

Donkey rides at St Andrews.

A real live donkey will be our guest of honour on Palm Sunday, March 16th. The church will mark the well-known story of Jesus´s entry to Jerusalem on a donkey with a special family-friendly service at 10am, after which children can have donkey rides in the church grounds. Sunday School and youth groups for various ages take place every Sunday except the first in each month - when the service in church is "All-Age". Service details for the rest of Holy Week and Easter are as follows:

Maundy Thursday, 20 March

8pm An evening of creative prayer

Good Friday, 21 March

10am Worship for all ages

11am Outdoor drama and music - with free hot cross buns!

Easter Day, 23 March

10am All Age Celebration, with Communion and a balloon release.

For children especially the high point of the Easter festival is of course chocolate Easter eggs. Indeed sales of chocolate to all ages are growing right across the world and throughout the year. But the price that growers get bears little relation to the price we pay. In parts of West Africa, for example, children are snatched from their families, and forced to work as cheap labour, picking beans on cocoa plantations for up to twelve hours a day. But there is hope for change. Stop the Traffik is a coalition of groups working to stop this trade in people. An account of what they do can be found on the website (www.stopthetraffik.org). But meanwhile in our coffee shop at St Andrew´s you can buy Fairtrade and Stop the Traffik Easter eggs and other chocolate products - and so help to solve this problem rather than being part of it.

The Mayor of Woking had two good reasons to join us on a recent Sunday. In the morning service he helped to launch a series called "Forty Days of Community" by answering questions from young church members about his own early background, and the growth of his desire to serve the community. He went on afterwards to perform the Official Opening of "A2" - the building next to the church that will become the centre of its work with young people and children.

A large crowd of all ages watched the ribbon being cut, and everyone present was given a balloon to hold. We then went outside and released the balloons. A fresh breeze blew some into a nearby tree, but others floated up into the heavens, and all of them made a pretty sight.

Cllr Cross has long-standing links with Goldsworth Park, having been a member for GP East since 1998, and for fourteen years a governor of Sythwood School. He is also a committed member of his own church. St Andrew´s provides a base for for many other organisations and activities, from Parenting Courses, and Mother and Toddler groups, to Woking Choral Society, which can be heard rehearsing in the main worship area every Monday.