The trustees have accepted the Bishop’s nomination of Dr. Janet Anderson Mckenzie as our new Mothers’ Union Diocesan Chaplain. The Trustees have met Janet and enjoyed very much the opening worship she led for our September meeting. I am sure when you meet Janet you will welcome her, and I am sure she will be a great asset to us.

Janet will be enrolled as a Diocesan member at the wave of prayer service in Bristol Cathedral on 25^th February, if you would like to join our Diocesan members on this day you will be most welcome.

Our Faith and Policy unit have designed some very pleasing Advent Services, we can use at home, a branch or a deanery. It gives us time to slow down and really think of how Mary the Mother of Jesus, must be feeling in her last stages of pregnancy, before the birth of our Lord. Do use these services, you will find them very useful, branch leaders have a copy.

I hope you have all handed in your 10p Tuesday pots for our overseas fund. It is where we need to support our work. Our Mothers’ Union workers have had their salaries cut because of lack of funds, and our 10p’s per week is nothing to us, but how much good it can do, so if you didn’t have a 10p pot this year, do think about it for 2012.

I have met many of you this year as I have come to talk at your branch or join you at your deanery service. This has been very enjoyable and encouraging, as new members have been enrolled and long service certificates handed out

When I have given talks on what we get up to, people are surprised at the amount of good work we do within our Diocese. This makes me wonder if we are being proactive enough, and reporting back from trustees and Deanery meetings, all that is important.

As members in Bristol Diocese, I want you to feel proud of our projects and the work that is carried out. Without all the fund raising you do, we could not support our projects,

The one thing I would like all branches to do is to have an email address, be it the branch leader or another member who can pass on the information. There are not many times we have to contact branches this way, but it does save the Diocese a lot in postage and you will have information quickly. Please think about this and see if we can have an email contact for every branch.

Something not included in this newsletter is Deanery News, but I have been thinking that perhaps Deanery Leaders could pass on what they have been doing to other Deanery Leaders and the news would be given out at Deanery meetings, and you could choose to support events in other deaneries near to you, or why not get a carload and cross the border, it’s good to see what other deaneries do and they will happy to have you swell their numbers. Why not give it a try!

Next years theme. Your Gift? Discover and Celebrate!

I look forward to meeting more of you through 2012.

God Bless, and dare I say it. Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year.

Mary x

My email is mary.head@blueyonder.co.uk telephone. 01454.887870.

Or write. 21 Station Road, Coalpit Heath, Bristol .BS36 2TJ

Faith & Policy. Ann and her team have been busy preparing special service sheets for you to use. They have also run two service preparation days, these are super days, when we get to grips with preparing a service which can be used at Deanery Festivals or for a Branch. It is so good to work with one another and find readings, prayers and hymns, and to share ideas why not join the next one. Pat Dale looks after our IMPC members and sends them a Birthday Card, Christmas Card and Easter Card from us all and I know that these are looked forward to as well as newsletters etc. Thanks Ann and team.

Action & Outreach. Another busy year, Mavis organized a Concert at St.Mary’s Church, Yate and raised over £400 for Away from it All Holidays. A very enjoyable evening Thanks Mavis. We again managed to send 7 families away for a weeks holiday in June, the families had a good time and we have had some lovely letters from them. There has been an exhibition of Mothers’ Union work at Poole Court, Yate. Through October.

Hartcliffe & Withywood Teenage Parents Project, have a new intake of young mums, and they are beginning to train for a variety of NVQ’s and we wish them well. Annette’s son Andy and granddaughter Natasha are planning to walk in Peru to raise funds for the Project we trust all will go well, if you would like to make a donation please contact Annette Sealy. We are again providing a tin of biscuits to each family, thanks to each branch for donating £5 towards this..

Friends for Parents. Many of you will have heard that Dorothy Nichols one of the volunteers has had a slight stroke, and is recovering well. This has led to volunteers having to adjust their shifts, but they are very good at covering for one another. They have had new posters made, so that parents know who the volunteers are. Gill Wilding has found messages of thanks by the tea and coffee stations from parents, it is good to know this is appreciated, so this passes on their thanks to all of you who donate tea and coffee.

The Green Hut. We continue to support this project based in Swindon, It is an area where there is a need for clothes, linens and food. At this time of year we forward the donations you have made to this project, to help them over the Christmas Period. A Christmas meal is available at the centre, as well as a small present for everyone. Thanks to you all for help in making Christmas more enjoyable for those in need.

The clients are also able to gain help with completing forms as this can be difficult for a lot of us.

Asylum Seekers & Refugees. An ongoing project where we donate food, Rice is very useful as the majority of people this is their main food. We no longer require Pasta here. But tinned food, tea and coffee is also acceptable.

Overseas. The link we here most from is West Ankole, Lilian and Kellen our workers there are able to keep in touch by email thanks to the help of Kellen’s son. And you should have received prayer requests via your deanery leader. Unfortunately the other links we do not here so much from However, they are prayer links, and we must pray for our sisters and have faith that our prayers will keep them safe, and that sometime in the future we will be able to correspond more frequently.

Cathedral Welcomer’s. Twenty Plus years and we are still welcoming visitors to the Cathedral, this is a most interesting project to support. If any of you would like to join this team speak to Barbara Edwards and you can be added to the rota. As well as welcoming visitors, they help out on Education Days in June when schools come in during their last year at Junior School and have a lovely day. There is also help needed when the Cathedral hosts the Big Draw.

Child Contact Centres. We volunteer at both Hartcliffe and Yate, The centres provide a safe environment for absent parents to meet with their child. These families have been through the court to come to an agreement that the child/children can meet their absent parent on neutral ground. There are toys for the children and our volunteers serve refreshments. Very rewarding work.

Finance & Central Services. Chris and his team, keep us all within budget, and ensures we comply to Charity law, Our Diocesan Membership also comes under this umbrella and Betty Lovell keeps them informed. And what would we all do without Pam, who sorts out where our money goes into projects and advises us when projects need an injection of cash. Leta keeps account of our overseas donations, and always seems to leave our AGM and Council meetings with a smile on her face. This is because you have all brought your donations and Leta can send off a cheque to continue the work overseas. There have been many times this year when a call has been made upon the relief fund. So do continue to support this work.

When you have read this I feel you need to take a deep breath, as it makes you realize how much work is done! Thank you all on behalf of all those you have helped.

If you need more information on one of the projects do contact me and I will pass your request to the correct person. Mary.