www.ashingtonparishchurch.co.uk

Back to Church for Ashington!

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:24:53 +0100

After 18 months of worshipping and praising God in temporary accommodation, the congregation of Ashington Parish Church moved back into the newly refurbished church building in mid-April.

Chris Maclay, Vicar of Ashington Parish Church, reflects on what it means to be back in the Church building, and the events that have taken place since then:

"What an amazing few months it has been, since we moved back into our church building. We were very blessed as a Church to have been able to meet and worship in the fantastic Ashington Community Centre, but without doubt it is great to be back in our bright, welcoming, dry and now warm church!

"We have been, and continue to be inspired and guided by God's Word in Isaiah chapter 58 in the Old Testament, part of which reads:

"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings..."

"We firmly believe that God is leading us, not just to 'refurbish and repair' the physical church building - although that is an important part - but to use this building to 'rebuild' Ashington and its entire community; couples, busy families with children, the elderly, singles, the desperate, those employed and unemployed, youngsters, the lonely, those who are unwell and those who are yet spiritually unaware. And part of God reaching out to His children in Ashington is to use this building for the whole village, not just the congregation on Sundays.

"Since the doors were opened again in mid April, the church has been used for a number of wonderful events:

"Almost immediately after the paintwork was dried, we held our Easter Holiday Club in partnership with SPLASH, a local Christian charity bringing fun and worship to primary school children. 'Rocky's Plaice' holiday club was a great success, with up to 70 children from the village on each of the three mornings of the club learning about Jesus through fun, crafts and lots of jumping up and down. Amazingly, not one drop of paint or glue ended up where it shouldn't have! This was followed the very next day with a production by Rhema, a Christian Theatre Group.

"The Sunday following that we held our 'official opening' Rededication Service and were blessed with the most amazing weather for our lunch together in the Church grounds. During May we held the third of our Plant Sale Plus events, raising over £1600. The wet weather did nothing to take away from the lovely café/market atmosphere inside the building.

"Also in May, we had the wonderful Riverside Theatre Company (where one of our congregation is doing her Gap year) staging a powerful performance for a younger audience; in June there was the God@Work Seminar to encourage those of us at work to share our faith in the workplace. In July the building was the venue for a classical music concert; the Monthly Lunch Club turned the building back into a café for its Summer Cream Tea and very recently we were able to bless the village with 'Free to Give', where high quality secondhand clothes were given free to anyone in the village - this was hosted by Liaise, a Storrington-based free debt-counselling service run by two members of our congregation. We hope to make this a regular occurrence.

"This church building belongs to the village, and it gives us great pleasure to see the village using it. We will be holding a number of events throughout the year; in the meantime, the church will be open during the Ashington Carnival for quiet reflection or just to have a look around and ask questions about the refurbishment and on Saturday 11^th September we will be hosting another major event along the lines of our successful "Party over the Hedge' - look out for more details later in the summer. "

Ashington Parish Church wins major grant for Church Renovations.

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:28:37 +0000

Ashington Parish Church has been awarded a major grant towards the renovation of its church building by Viridor Credits Environmental Company, a subsidiary of Viridor, one of the UK's largest resource and waste management companies.

Ashington Church is benefitting from a grant of £22,442 which has been awarded to pay towards the electrics and east wall repairs.

Now in the 20^th week, the renovation of Ashington Church is more than half way through and is still on schedule for a spring finish, despite the dreadful weather at the beginning of January.

The intricate multi-layered flooring, with its new under-floor heating system, has been the focus for much of the work since the start of the Christmas period and during the last few weeks. Now completed and totally covered up for protection, the floor has been built up with a number of different layers including hi-tech materials and piping, and terracotta heat releasing tiles all topped by large pale coloured limestone slabs. As well as greatly improving the quality of heat available in the colder months, the new floor will add to the feeling of light and spaciousness when the church building is eventually reopened.

Alongside the work on the floor has been the insertion of a new boiler system in the Vestry, and the total rewiring of the church which is now nearing completion. The walls and ceilings are in the process of being painted, having had sections of the plaster repaired, and SGN has recently dug up Foster Lane to establish a gas supply for the heating system.

In addition to the actual overseeing of the building works, there has been a real focus on fund-raising which started in October 2008 with the Ashington congregation 'gifting' (through both donations and pledges) approximately £180,000, in a single day.

Another part of the fund raising project included applying for, and being awarded, the grant by Viridor Credits, which redistributes a proportion of money that its parent company, Viridor Waste Management Ltd, would otherwise pay as Landfill Tax. These funds support community-based projects through the Landfill Communities Fund and a proportion is awarded for restoration or renovation of buildings of historical importance, including those used for religious worship, provided they offer public access.

Peter Lewis, Building Project Coordinator for Ashington Church, says: " We are of course absolutely delighted with the award from Viridor Credits, which has been a fantastic contribution towards our fund-raising efforts. The church building belongs to our community, and we look forward to welcoming Ashington residents to into a warm and inviting church building which is there for all in the village as a sanctuary and a place to meet with God."

Ashington Church member Joy Hammond wins National Christmas Carol competition!

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:52:01 +0000

Joy Hammond, a member of our congregation at Ashington Church, has won a prestigious national competition to compose a new Christmas carol. The carol, called "Long, Long Ago" was picked as the winner from over 100 entries from all over the country in a competition called 'The Christmas Factor'. Run by Ecclesiastical Insurance, the competition is part of a wider campaign with ChurchAds.net to put the Christian message back into Christmas.

Joy, an amateur musician, was tempted to enter the competition to win the £1000 prize money for our church's renovation, which is due to be completed in the spring. Having been involved with church worship for a number of years, Joy is a member of our worship team here at Ashington, but has not actually composed anything for about 10 years.

She admits to being 'flabbergasted' at winning. "I heard about the competition from our church notice sheet and thought I'd give it a go" says Joy. "I sat down at the piano and started to play a little melody line and tried to get the lyrics to reflect all the things I associate with carols. To be honest, I thought the carol was too simple to win the competition."

But it was the simplicity and beauty of the song that impressed the judges, and as part of the prize the carol has been professionally arranged and recorded, and played on several radio stations.

Joy's carol was not the only competition entry from Ashington. Tim Fooks, who is also part of our worship team, wrote another beautiful carol called "Joy has come to the World".

Both carols were performed at Ashington Church's Christmas carol service by a joint choir from Ashington and our sister Church Washington.

"We are all absolutely delighted for Joy, and very proud of her and Tim. And, of course, we are very blessed by the prize of £1000 which is a beautiful gift towards the church" says Chris Maclay, our Vicar at Ashington.

"Having the carols performed at the Ashington Christmas carol service was a wonderful treat for all who came to the service, and there could not be a more fitting way to bless and wish everyone a wonderful, peaceful and very happy Christmas."

To listen to the new carol, click on the link below:

http://www.ecclesiastical.com/uploads/Long%2C%20Long%20Ago%20(Rowan)_tcm9-10090.mp3#false

Ashington Parish Church Launches ‘SpendAndGive’ scheme

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:17:29 +0000

Ashington Parish Church has joined forces with SpendAndGive, an Internet based fundraising company, to help raise funds for the church's renovation project.

SpendAndGive works with online retailers to raise funds for charities by offering an additional no-cost channel for charity supporters to access a growing number of high profile retailers, including Marks and Spencer, Tesco, Amazon and ToysRus among others via a dedicated website.

Ashington Parish Church is delighted to join the scheme, launched this week, which allows supporters - both existing members of the congregation and residents of Ashington - to support the renovation of their Parish Church at no cost to themselves.

Shoppers start their Internet shopping by logging onto www.ashingtonpc.spendandgive.com and then follow the links to the many on-line stores who are part of the scheme. When the purchase is made, the church receives a commission on the sale.

Chris Maclay, our Vicar at Ashington, is enthusiastic about the scheme: " The renovation of the church is going extremely well, as is the fundraising for it. But there is no doubt that the amount of work being carried out is enormous, and carries a cost.

"This is a fantastic way for everyone in Ashington to get involved with their Parish church in a way that doesn't cost the buyer anything at all, but will help us significantly as we continue to turn Ashington church into a warm and welcoming place for the whole village, not just the congregation on Sunday."

Ashington Parish Church renovations well underway.

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:53:36 +0000

After a whole month of digging and levelling, the first stage of building work at Ashington Parish church is well under way, and on schedule!

During these first few weeks the works have concentrated on removing the flooring and digging out tons of rubble to reduce the ground level by nearly two feet.

Over the next few weeks the floor level will gradually be rebuilt, layer by layer and will incorporate the new under floor heating system.

One of the issues that can affect church renovations is the possibility of finding human bones and that is exactly what did happen here at Ashington during the second week. A number of bones and part of a human skull were found in the southern part of the church, and the official procedure was immediately put into place. An archaeologist was called to observe the building works and to check that the bones were not from a grave. Once it was established that the bones had simply been reburied - probably as a result of disturbing the ground when the South Aisle extension was added in 1872 - building work was cleared to continue, without any delay to the schedule.

The most recent work has focused on the high ceiling; in order create a feeling of light and space, the dark wooden planks in between the ceiling beams have been covered with plaster board, which are easier to maintain than painting the existing wooden ceiling, and will be painted the same light colour as the church walls. Once the work on the ceiling has been completed, the work on rebuilding the floor level will continue.

"We are really pleased with the quality of the work and expertise shown by Farnrise Construction Ltd. Their input into the decision-making process has been excellent," says Peter Lewis, Property Secretary at Ashington Church.

"In addition, our architect, John Minter, is doing a superb job managing everything and we are blessed as a Church to be working with him and Farnrise."

There are a few pews left for sale so if you would like to buy a little bit of local history then contact Geoff Tute, our fundraising Chairman on 01903 745004.

Building work begins at Ashington Parish Church

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:31:39 +0100

Members of Ashington's Parish Church 'celebrated' the start of their church's building programme this weekend by dismantling the interior in preparation for the builders arriving on Monday 21 September.

After months of planning and waiting for approval from various regulatory bodies, building work begins this week and is expected to last for approximately six months.

The church - which is now officially a 'building site' - still had to be emptied of its remaining pews, storage cupboards and any wooden flooring which could be salvaged. Throughout the day on Saturday, members of Ashington church worked together to empty the building, with any remaining pews being delivered to their buyers.

Chris Maclay, the Vicar at Ashington Church says,

"There is no doubt that we are all delighted that work has started at last. We are all looking forward to returning next year into a building that will be wonderfully welcoming to all in Ashington.

"Throughout the building work we will continue to meet on Sunday mornings at the Ashington Community Centre, unless otherwise advised. Any information on our church services throughout the winter, the Y course due to begin this week and other Church based activities can be found in the Calendar pages of this website.

"In addition we'll be posting regular updates on the progress of the building works so log on regularly to see how your church building is developing."

Water into (New) Wine!

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:10:48 +0100

It was a wet but worthwhile week for over 60 members of Ashington Church's congregation as they camped out at 'New Wine', a huge Christian Conference held at the Bath and West Showground, in the last week in July.

New Wine, which holds three different regional events, attracts Christians from all over the country for an intense week of worship, learning and fellowship.

This year there were a number of people from Ashington who had never been before, and despite the weather, all agreed that the week was hugely worthwhile spiritually, and that they would be going again next year.

Chris Maclay, our Vicar at Ashington, says "It was definitely a steep learning curve for many of the first timers, but God is infinitely bigger than the weather! It was great to see people in our Church Family really touched by God throughout the week as they took part in teaching seminars and the fantastic worship.

"The children also absolutely loved it, they loved their groups where they had their own age appropriate teaching and worship and got to know Jesus better, they loved the camping and the freedom it gave them and they loved the muddy puddles and playing hide and seek with torches!"

"It was the 'showering of the Holy Spirit', not the rain showers which made impact during the week."

The NOISE @ Ashington Parish Church

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:17:11 +0100

Members of Ashington Church picked up their spades and met together on Saturday 4th July to clean up overgrown areas in Ashington Village as part of Ashington Church’s first ‘The Noise’ event.

"The Noise@Ashington, was a fantastic opportunity for our Church family to get out into our community and serve in a very practical way" says Chris Maclay, our Vicar.

Over 25 members teamed up to clear the ditches running along side the Rec (4 good quality footballs were found and returned to the local team who train there); to cut back bushes, brambles and weeds outside Aladdin’s Cave on London Road, and to help one lady by weeding her garden and painting some woodwork.

‘The Noise’ is an initiative originating from a group of Churches working together in North Bristol, where it is in its 8^th year, and earlier this year over 500 volunteers from several churches made an impact on their local communities.

"It’s unlikely we’ll get quite that big," says Chris Maclay, "but not only is ‘The Noise’ a great opportunity for Ashington Church to make an impact locally but a wonderful way for local Christians to join together in giving time and service to our communities. "It would be great, eventually, to see this grow and more churches, whatever their denomination, joining in with us."

Beavers and Salsa at Ashington Parish Church!

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:13:49 +0100

It was an exciting week for some of Ashington Church’s young people and youth. On the evening of Monday 15 June, five of our young H₂O members became fully fledged Beaver Scouts at their Investiture, and on the Saturday 20^th June two of our teenage Salt group members held an amazing Salsa Evening to help fund their Gap year projects.

The six year old Beaver youngsters, Joseph Blakely, Alice Burston, Katie Harvey, Ashleigh Dean and Amy McKinnon were among 23 invested into the brand new 1^st Ashington Beaver Scouts, set up as a new Pack this term. Beaver Leader and Church member Sue ‘Otter’ Harvey (Katie’s mum!) was delighted with the event. "It is fantastic to see so many children both from the wider village community and our church supporting this new Pack together.

"The Beavers is a great way for children to do exciting things and at the same time learn to work together and respect each other, their community, the environment and God. We’re delighted that Ashington has now got its very own Beaver Scout Pack, and we would like to thank all those parents who turned up to support the Pack’s Investiture Ceremony, our Vicar Chris who handed the children their certificates during the ceremony, and church member Nick Willmoth who was our ‘official’ photographer for the evening."

A few days later the Ashington Community Centre was the venue for a more grown up evening of colour, music and Salsa dancing, organised by Emma-Louise Maclay and Naomi Richardson to fund their respective Gap years.

A hundred guests turned up to Salsa the night away, and the two raised £1,600 through ticket sales and a silent auction, with gifts such as an aerobatic flying lesson, an electrician for 4 hours, 2 sets of airport runs to and from Gatwick, an exclusive meal fo 2, a day-trip on a yacht, were amongst the kindly donated services and goods.

Emma-Louise, 18, will be spending a year from September with Mission Africa in Nigeria, where she will be working to 'bring Jesus' mainly to Street Children, but also to other alienated and vulnerable members of African society, such as widows and the disabled, prostitutes and those in prison.

Naomi, also 18, is going to ‘Riverside School of Performing Arts’, a Christian Drama College, and over the next year she will be performing Christian drama to audiences totalling over 25,000 people.

Chris Maclay, our Vicar at Ashington Church, says: "It’s so important for our young people, whatever their age, to get involved with activities which not only enable them to grow into responsible well-rounded individuals, but also gives them an opportunity to give back to society and to God - whether locally or on a different continent.

"It’s great to see our young church members getting involved in the Beavers. It’s also great that as a Church our youth have a tradition of dedicating their gap years to Jesus, and we will be sending Naomi and Emma-Louise off with our heart-felt prayers and blessings."

Ashington Parish Church Blessed by the Best in Music

Wed, 27 May 2009 19:10:34 +0100

Members of Ashington Church have been blessed two weekends in a row by music from some of the best Christian artists in the world performing right on their doorstep.

The first occasion was at Ashington Church's fantastically successful 2nd annual Plant Sale Plus on the 16th May, when over £1,600 was raised for the Church funds. As well as plants, many of which were grown, nurtured and donated by church members, there were crafts, locally grown produce from Crumbs of Sussex and jewellery from Ashington-based The Cat's Whiskers, among others.

Also on sale were the church pews, and it was these that attracted Stuart Townend - one of the world's most renowned Christian songwriters and the most prolific living hymn writer today - to visit.

Villagers were treated to an hour of some of Stuart's most beautiful modern hymns, sung in churches all over the world, as well as a selection of popular secular favourites.

The second musical highlight took place the following weekend, Sunday 24th May, down the road from Ashington at Wiston. Over a 100 members of Ashington Church joined a further 13,000 fellow Christians of all denominations from all over Sussex and beyond at the beautiful Wiston Estate for The Big Church Day Out, a spectacular musical event with some of the biggest names in Christian music, including Graham Kendrick, Michael W Smith, Lou Fellingham. The event was the brain child of Tim Jupp, the keyboard player in the world famous band Delirious, and the highlight of the event was a concert from Delirious, one of their last before they disband later this year.

"Both events were utterly blessed, very successful, and whilst worlds apart in terms of size, were very important for our Church here in Ashington", says our Vicar Chris Maclay.

"Our plant sale was a fantastic opportunity to welcome many from our village who do not normally go to church, and the Big Church Day out was an opportunity not only to show Sussex that Jesus is Alive, but to worship in unity with Christians from all denominations. The intention is that both events will be repeated next year and it would be fantastic to see even more people from Ashington at both".

Ashington Parish Church and SPLASH! team up for Mini Holiday Club this Easter

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:52:22 +0000

Ashington Parish Church is once again teaming up with SPLASH!, the Storrington based Christian children's charity, to run a Mini Holiday Club at Easter in the village. This year, the theme is 'Waste Watchers', another action packed bible based programme with games, quizzes, sports, arts and crafts, team challenges, drama and music, all centred on the theme of protecting our environment and God's creation.

Liz Burston, a member of our congregation and one of the organisers says: "Last year in Ashington we had a hugely successful holiday club in conjunction with Splash, and we are delighted to be able to build on the foundations of that with this new mini Holiday Club Programme. We feel very blessed to have such a fantastic opportunity to reach out to young children in Ashington to tell them of God's love for them and their families in such a fun-filled way."

Chris Maclay, our Vicar at Ashington Church agrees. "It is especially fantastic to see so many children from families who do not normally come to Church coming to the SPLASH! events and experiencing the love of Jesus.

"Young children are the future for our society and our planet and, as Christians, we feel privileged at being able to teach about Jesus in all aspects of our lives, not just through our great H₂0 children's services on Sundays but also through this special partnership with SPLASH!"

The SPLASH! Mini Holiday Club is aimed at kids from Reception to Year 5, and will once again be held in Ashington C of E School. The programme runs for three mornings, 9.30-12.30 pm, starting on Tuesday 7th April until Thursday 9th April, and finishes with a lunch for everyone from 12.30 onwards on Thursday. The cost is £3.00 per morning which includes a free 'Waste Watchers' T-shirt.

To find out more call SPLASH! on 01903 740044 or visit their website www.splashschools.org.uk.

You can also email them at admin@splashschools.org.uk or write to Splash! c/o Trinity Methodist, Thakeham Road, Storrington, West Sussex RH20 3NG.

Ashington Parish Church's Pipe Organ Needs New Home!

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:43:34 +0000

Ashington Parish Church is now looking for a good new home for our small Speechly Pipe Organ. As our congregation has grown in size, it has become inadequate for leading our large congregation in singing.

The organ has been well maintained over the years, is in good working order, and would ideally suit a small church with a congregation of up to 50 members.

If you know of anyone who would be interested in giving our pipe organ a good home, please contact either Peter Lewis 01798 817516 or The Rectory on 01903 893878.

For further information regarding organ specification, please contact Paul Ebling at the National Pipe Organ Registry website:

www.npor.org.uk ref. no - N15324

Ashington Parish Church welcomes newest arrivals!

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:47:53 +0000

Celebrations, thanks and praise to God have taken place over the last 2 months here at our church in Ashington as we have welcomed the safe arrival of our 3 newest and youngest members!

All born within 7 weeks of each other, the 3 youngsters - all boys - are causing quite a stir when they appear among our Church family at our Sunday services.

First to arrive was Ewan Samuel Trott, born on 12th December (8lbs14oz!). Then with a splash came Jack Anthony Footitt, born in a birthing pool on 29th December (7lbs10oz), followed a month later by Thomas Joel Blakely on 31st January (8lbs2oz). Having decided to keep his mum waiting for a whole week after he was due, Thomas then raced the midwife and was born at home 15 minutes before the midwife arrived! (Clever Dad Andrew!)

"It's great to have 3 brand new babies in our congregation" says our Vicar, Chris Maclay. "Our fellowship at Ashington has a massive range of ages, from the 3 newborns right the way up to members in their 90's, and is a fantastic and welcoming place for families and all ages to come and worship Jesus."

"God has really blessed all the families involved, and we congratulate them with a special 'well done' to mums Katy, Camilla and Jane."

During our Sunday services Ewan, Jack and Thomas will either stay with their mums and dads or go into the crèche until they reach 3 years, after which they will join the other children at H₂O - our children's 'church'- which is held in Ashington C of E School.

If you would like to know more about how we worship, please click on the links at the top of this page, or even better still, do pay us a visit. We would be delighted to see you.

Ashington Parish Church's Plans Approved!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:58:15 +0000

After many months of discussion, we are delighted to announce that Chichester Diocese have now approved our plans for the refurbishment of the church building. This is a major step forward and we thank God that our plans remain almost entirely intact. We are now in the process of applying to the Chancellor for the Diocese who has the power to give the final authority (faculty).

We have also been advised by Horsham District Council that we require planning permission for an access ramp we need to install to the external vestry door (to comply with legislation regarding the disabled) so again that is in process.

There are still decisions to be made about acoustics and chairs and we are currently trying to obtain access to the roof above the nave to find out amongst other things where water is coming in (at the west end of the building).

On the funding side we are applying to for a Landfill Communities Grant, and are looking to sell the pews and find a good home for the old organ - all subject however to final approval as above.

Our architects have advised us that they are hoping to send out the documents next week to invite tenders from various building contractors (all known to either them or us). Please pray that we will appoint the right contractor and that they will be available quickly.

So months of thought and preparation and prayer seem at last to be coming to fruition and we have every confidence that the work will commence and soon!

Praise God!