Friday Friends Programme – December ’25 & January ’26

Friday Friends meets from 2.00 – 4.00pm every Friday, price £3.50 (carers free), offering a mix of talks, light exercise, singing together, table top games or craft activities in a safe, warm and friendly environment – with tea and cakes.

Friday Friends will not meet over Christmas and New Year – i.e. it doesn’t meet on December 26th and January 2nd. Be aware that Café Siena is also closed on December 18th.

See below for details of the program for December ’25 & January ’26.

December5thCards & Games
12thChristmas Craft with Madeline
19thCarols & Readings with Tony
26thCLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
January2ndCLOSED FOR NEW YEAR
9thCards & Games
16thSeated Exercises with Juliet
23rdVE Day with Terry Dixon
30thQuiz with Sue

Christingle at St Cat’s Lite – Saturday 6th Dec

Celebrate Christingle at our next ‘St Cat’s Lite’ service on Saturday 6th December, starting at 3:30pm.

St Cat’s Lite is a fun, informal, all-age service. While open to anyone of any age, it’s especially popular with children & families.

Children will be given a Christingle (which is an orange, red ribbon, 4 sticks with sweets and fruit and a candle) and we use it to explain the Christmas message. 

We’re also raising money for the Children’s Society to help disadvantaged children. 

We finish with refreshments.

St. Cat’s Lite usually takes place at St Catherine’s on the first Saturday of the month, starting at 3:30pm.

Everyone is very welcome at this or any of our activities.

Shoebox Sunday – Results

Thank you to everyone who contributed to Operation Christmas Child collection this year. On ‘Shoebox Sunday’, we collected Shoeboxes filled with Christmas Gifts for children around the world who may not get anything else at Christmas.

At the service we learnt more about Operation Christmas Child and what happens to your shoeboxes as they are sent off.

We collected over 50 Shoeboxes, two large bags of knitted hats, and we know some of you also donated ‘virtual’ shoeboxes on-line.

Here’s some images of what happened to those Shoeboxes after the service …

Shoeboxes stacked ready for collection
Shoeboxes being loaded into the car
Shoeboxes at the local collection depot
Shoeboxes at the Sunday Service

If you didn’t manage to pack a physical shoebox, you can ‘pack’ a virtual Shoebox online at: https://shoeboxonline.samaritans-purse.org.uk/ . We know that some of you have already done that !

 

Café Siena reduced service

Reduced service during November & December

Our Manager Jo will be having further surgery mid November and will be unable to work for a few weeks.

Café Siena will remain open but there will be a reduced menu and we may close at 1.30pm. As we are staffed by lovely volunteers the service we can offer will depend on staffing availability both in the kitchen and as servers.

Café Siena will close for it’s Christmas break on Friday 12th December and reopen on Thursday 8th January 2026.

As always we appreciate your understanding and support while Jo is away.

St Cat’s Lite – Saturday 1st November

Our next ‘St Cat’s Lite’ service is on Saturday 1st November, starting at 3:30pm. This month’s theme is ‘Light Up the Darkness’.

St Cat’s Lite is a fun, informal, all-age service. We start with different craft activities that help us think about the month’s theme. We continue exploring the theme through songs, stories and prayer. We finish with refreshments. While open to anyone of any age, it’s especially popular with children & families.

St. Cat’s Lite usually takes place at St Catherine’s on the first Saturday of the month, starting at 3:30pm. December’s St Cat’s Lite will take place on Saturday 6th and will be our Christingle service.

Everyone is very welcome at this or any of our activities.

Shoebox Sunday – 16th Nov

Each year we take part in Operation Christmas Child, where we encourage people to give small Christmas Gifts in Shoeboxes for children around the world who may not get anything else at Christmas.

We collect the shoeboxes at our Shoebox Sunday service – which this year is November 16th.

Leaflets about what to pack, along with ‘flatpack shoeboxes’ (a donation of 62p please) can be found at Church.  You can read more about the project here :- https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/ 

At the Sunday service we’ll learn more about Operation Christmas Child and what happens to our shoeboxes as they are sent off.

If you can’t pack a physical shoebox yourself, you can ‘pack’ a Shoebox online at: https://shoeboxonline.samaritans-purse.org.uk/