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ACROSS
Hemel - 1st May
to 3rd May 2009
Three to four thousand people attended the
Across Hemel family fun day on Gadebridge Park on Sunday 3rd May,
according to police estimates. The fun day was part of the three day Across
Hemel event organised by twenty-four churches from around the town. The event began on Friday 1st May
with a series of community projects in different areas. Anna Nicks, who
co-ordinated this part of the event, said, “It was fantastic to see Christians
from right across the town serving their communities by washing cars, picking
litter, doing up gardens and many other things.” That evening, hundreds of people attended
free BBQs, some in people’s homes, others held in churches. Simon Wright of St
Mary’s and St Joseph’s Church said, “We had a great evening, serving
hundreds of burgers and sausages. It was fantastic for the church to be able to
reconnect with the community in this way.” During the day, on Saturday, hundreds more
Hemel residents were served by more community action teams. As one Hemel
resident, who enjoyed a cup of tea and a cake from one of these teams, put it,
“It’s good to see the Christians pulling together.” Later that evening, the huge marquee on
Gadebridge Park hosted a massive quiz night with a £1000 winning prize for a
registered charity. Four hundred people packed into the marquee in fifty teams
to do battle. The winners, by the incredibly slender margin of just half a
point, were a group who will donate the money to kidney research. One of the
group suffers from a kidney disease, and so they are hoping to raise £3,500 for
research into kidney diseases. One of the winners, Mary Webb, said, “We never
thought we would win, but it was a really fun evening, and we’re so pleased to
have raised so much money for Kidney Research UK. My son is doing a sponsored
climb of Mount Kilimanjaro to try and raise the rest.” On Sunday 3rd May, the fun
continued with a large joint church service in the marquee. The Deputy Mayor and
Mike Penning, MP, joined a crowd of one thousand to watch the speaker, Steve
Lee, appear to cut a man in two and make milk disappear, before telling the
crowd the story of the Prodigal Son and saying that God is longing for everyone
to know him. That afternoon, the family fun day attracted
a crowd of three to four thousand who enjoyed bouncy castles, face paints, a café
and much, much more all entirely for free. Louise Stafford, mother of two young
children who attended, said, “My kids really loved it, especially the bouncy
castles. They were exhausted by the evening as there had been so much to do.”
Luke Flynn, 11, thought it was great too. “It was really good, I really
enjoyed it, especially the kangaroos where you had to wrestle the other
person.” That evening, Across Hemel hosted the final
free event, and it was standing room only as twelve hundred people listened to
the London Community Gospel Choir perform in the big marquee. By the end, the
whole crowd were on their feet dancing and clapping along to the music. The
choir was followed by Steve Lee who encouraged the crowd to rediscover their
Christian faith. All of these events were put on for free by
24 churches across the town spanning every tradition and denomination. Angela
Such, who organised the whole event said, “We were delighted in how well it
all came together. It was just great to see so many Christians working with each
other to put on something for their community.” Justin Thacker, Chair of the event, said,
“Sometimes people have this idea that church is boring and irrelevant. Across
Hemel has more than demonstrated to those who came that Church in Hemel at least
is fun and has something for everyone.” He then added, “Our purpose was to
show God’s love in action and in word. We hope to do more events like this in
the future – for details see www.acrosshemel.co.uk” For more details contact: Justin Thacker, j.thacker@eauk.org, 07879457708 |
