29th September - Meal at La Hawelli's

It's ages since I last went for a curry in Rusholme so I was really glad that Alan organised tonight's meal. Met Brian in town and travelled down together. It sounds like he had a good holiday in Devon. Alan turned up shortly after we arrived - he said he had invited quite a few people, but he wasn't sure who was going to turn up.
Kay and Elaine arrived next and then Jackie and Sandeep arrived. Brian was surprised and pleased to see Jackie - it must be over 6 years since he last saw her at one of our "New Life" group meetings. Unfortunately, it took over an hour for our food to arrive as the restaurant was very busy mainly because the students are now back. However, it proved to be well worth waiting for. I was happy with my Chicken Badami with dried fruit and nuts in it. Alan had his usual Karahi special and we ordered a variety of different Naan breads and rice to go with the curries. We found plenty to chat about including work, Brian's holiday and dancing. Sandeep seems to be enjoying his jive lessons and is now becoming one of the regulars.I was surprised and pleased to receive a text message from Margaret to say that the Church council has been postponed for two weeks as that means I can go to salsa class this Tuesday! We left the restaurant at about 10.30pm and Kay, Alan, Jackie, Brian and I went over to the Woodstock pub in Didsbury. I've never been there before ,but it looks like a good pub - no loud music and not too crowded. Kay told me they do good Sunday lunches too. After about an hour, Brian and I left to go and catch a bus into town. In all, it was an enjoyable evening. Brian certainly enjoyed meeting the others and chatting to them.

24th September - Afternoon at the Slug and Lettuce

As usual, I was one of the first to arrive at the Slug and lettuce. This is a new meeting place for the "Coffee at 3" meeting. It certainly looks a lot less crowded than the Didsbury pub. A group of new girls joined us - they were from the World Harvest Church in Salford Quays. They have a thriving young adults group at their church, but they still seem keen to join with our activities.
Later, Camille, Alicia and John turned up. Camille was in a very happy mood. She is still seeing the guy she met speed dating at Greenbelt.
Alan told me that he is still planning to go to Blackpool with Activities next weekend. I'm afraid the place doesn't attract me at all -it's very tacky. I also chatted to Tim and another new girl called Emma about Greenbelt. They seemed keen to know more about the festival. Also chatted about the next weekend away. It's good to hear that so many regulars will be going and great to hear there will a few new people there too. I left the pub about 5pm feeling that I'd had a good afternoon.

23rd September - Games Night at Kay's

I was one of the first to arrive at Kay's tonight. She recommended that we order our
takeaway from her local Chinese. As usual I was spoilt for choice, but finally decided on an old favourite - Chicken with Ginger and Pineapple. As expected, we had a smaller crowd than last week which meant that I had the opportunity to talk to most people. There were a couple of new girls who had come all the way from Chester. I was also pleased to see Karen N who I haven't seen since the weekend away in July.
She has been off work for over two months because she stood on a needle - I felt really sorry for her when she told me the whole saga.
Everyone was impressed when the food arrived - portions were very generous.
We then split into groups for the games. Most people opted for Dingbats or Taboo.
I joined Kay, Rachel, Sandeep, Robin and a couple of others for Dingbats because it's easier than Taboo. After about an hour we had a break for dessert. There was quite an assortment of goodies. I managed to restrain myself from having a chocolate eclair, but I was quite pleased when I found out that Kay is another fan of Malt bread. Tim jokingly chided me for not using a plate - I suppose I can be a bit too eager at times! I then wandered back into the living room and was persuaded to join in the game of Taboo. I joined the losing team, so by the time I got round to my go there was some pressure on me. However they didn't take things too seriously so I didn't feel too bad when we lost.
I had a lift home from Elaine and arrived home in a much better mood than last week.
In all it was a good evening with great food and good company too.

16th September - Barbeque at Karen's

Tonight was my first 25 plus meeting since Greenbelt. We arrived at Karen's house in Romiley to find that there were quite a few people there. Karen's garden is deceptively big. She had two gazebos on the lawn and there was enough room for two barbeque stoves on the patio. The food was good - we had burgers, sausages, salmon and marinated spicey chicken kebabs. It was all bought from the local butchers.
I saw quite a few people who had been on the Mastersun Ceroc holiday in Turkey - it sounded like they all had a great time. I also had the chance to meet a few new people. The number of people there was a bit overwhelming for me though. I think I will probably enjoy next week's games night better as that looks as if it will be a smaller gathering.

10th September - Welcome Service for Margaret - our new minister

I arrived at church early tonight to find the circuit staff enjoying tea. I was told that only 20 of them had turned up so there was a lot of food left over. No doubt it will go later as part of the refreshments. I walked into church to find a flame machine on the platform - looks very impressive. I set up the microphones whilst the dancers practised. Then people started arriving. One church had hired a minibus.It was nice to see quite a few people from the South side of Manchester there.
Unfortunately there was a hitch - our clip-on microphones weren't working. By the time the service started the church was nearly full so there must have been over 150 people there. I'm sure the turnout meant that Margaret felt that she had the support of the whole circuit. The first hymn was "O for a thousand tongues" - it had 10 verses! The theme of the service was "Fear not for I am with you". The dancing was well received -several people said afterwards how much they appreciated it.The joint choirs sung well and the communion was well organised. David Copley's booming voice made up for the lack of microphones during communion. I was pleased to see they chose one of John Bell's hymns - "The Summons" - for the final hymn. Afterwards over refreshments,several people remarked at how well it had gone. I felt quite pleased that I had asked to host the service at our church.

1st September - Ros's funeral

I travelled down to the crematorium with Joan and Harold and Winifred. It was extremely busy when we arrived and we only just managed to find a space in the car park. As we made our way into the chapel we noticed that was packed too. I decided to stand at the back with Jane and Harold and left Joan and Winifred to find seats.
There must have been about 300 people there. The service was led by Steve Poxton who is Chair of the District where Jeff's church is. He said that Ros was a determined woman and was not afraid to face death. The hymns included my favourite - Living Lord - and Ros's favourite - And Can it be. After the service we returned to our church, where there was an excellent spread prepared for us. It was evident that most people were Ros's work colleagues or people from Jeff's church. I was sorry to see that there weren't many people from their old youth club, but I was pleased to hear it mentioned in the service. Jeff and Charlotte were touched to see all the people there. They were very grateful to Steve for his touching eulogy. In all it was a moving tribute to someone who touched many lives.