News

Church picnic – 17 February at Little Shoal Bay

Keep this date free – from 4pm onwards. Full tide 6pm. Friends and relatives welcome. Canoe, swim, play pétanque and other beach games that you bring, sit and talk, barbecue BYO food and drink to share. Zion Hill and St Aidans are invited to join us.

Over 70 from St Aidans, St Andrews and St Lukes worshipped together on 30 December

Gerald Sharrock of St Aidans led a very happy and thought-provoking service and talked about some of the Cs which shaped our thinking and traditions about Christmas, the birth of Jesus. These included the Council of Nicea, Constantine, the Concordat of Worms, Calvin, Dickens’ Christmas Carol, Queen Victoria’s Consort Prince Albert, Bing Crosby and Commercialism. Everyone enjoyed the singing of carols and hymns and the chance to talk with old friends, while so many other friends were away on holiday.

Meeting between members of Zion Hill, St Aidans and St Andrews 28 October

The 5 faces of mission today

Spring Photo Competition

Now is the time. The Spring has sprung the bees have buzzed. Print your spring photos and put them on the boards in the foyer. Whoops – too late – judging finished weeks ago. Margaret Larsen took this one from her window at home. Some absolutely beautiful photos are on the board in the foyer. Colin  announced this competition after getting a head start – his farm has heaps of spring activity.

2018 AGM 26 August

The Annual General Meeting of the congregation was sandwiched between morning tea and lunch after the service. Colin ensured that everyone could see and hear one another, all reports were received and financial statements were adopted. The budget for the year to 30 June 2019 was adopted after brief discussion. The many good things we are doing were shared, as were ideas of how we might extend our mission to the community. David Hansen brought greetings from our friends at St Aidans Northcote.

Grace Hibbs:

Grace died recently and her funeral was held on Thursday 16 August at St Andrews.  Grace was a very active member of St Philips and St Andrews and led Girls’ Brigade at St Philips for many years, as well as participating actively in many church activities. She served several terms on the Session. Her gentle nature belied her firmness when addressing situations and issues.

Pauline Fish gave a lovely tribute on our behalf, one which was not only heart-felt but based on her personal friendship with Grace. The family were very appreciative of all the visitors Grace continued to have over these last few years, particularly when she was not able to get to church. They were so grateful the church was made available and really appreciated everyone’s contribution to saying ‘farewell’. Our love goes out to Linda and Murray and their families.

News from Laurie Wesley in Santiago de Chile

Hello all,

The time is passing very quickly here, and things are all going smoothly.  I was expecting to go out with one of my colleagues today but he postponed our outing for family reasons. So today I did some walking up the main hill in Santiago known as San Cristobal.  The zoo is on the lower slopes and there is a large statue of Mary at the top. I took the train to Pedro  de Valdivia station (where we were the last time you visited us Alison) and walked from there to the top.  The hill is a national park with a well built sealed road to the top, and there are a network of walking tracks all over it. It is usually full of cyclists on Sundays

When we first came here there were Gondolas operating but the whole system was in need of upgrading and they were closed down for many years.   However they were back operating again as one of the photos shows. I had lunch at the top then went down on the funicular and traveled home on the Metro by a slightly long route. A new line (No 6) has opened since we were last here so I tried it out. It is all very new and the stations all have complete barriers like the systems in Singapore and Dubai, and the trains are automatic (ie driverless).

I went to the end of the new line and got out and went for a short walk before returning home. It just happens that there is a new aircraft museum not far from the station so I had a look around it.  It is very large and well presented. I’ll attach just the one photo, but will send some more to you Richard to examine. It seems their collection is very different to ours in NZ and probably those in England and countries involved in the two World Wars.  There was no sign of Spitfires, Lancasters, Mosquitos etc. One part of it was dedicated to the Ides or dreams people had of flying over the centuries before real aircraft were invented and it was well done.

[Webmaster and Robyn know that hill – but we went up by bus. An ambitious walk for Laurie.]

Farewell to Dr Gary Bold

Gary Bold, husband, father, grandfather, physicist and teacher, radio ham, tramper and mountaineer, Christian, elder …. the list goes on. Gary died on Tuesday 3rd July 2018 after a short illness, and a Family Service for Gary’s family and the congregation was held on Friday evening 6th July. Members remembered Gary’s dramatic presentation of readings, prayers, sermons and children’s talks over the 40+ years he and Rosemary had been at St Andrews. They spoke of his musical contribution – the trumpet in the music group, the Happy Birthdays and frequent other piano playing at worship, the way in which someone who could not read music could contribute so much. Some remembered that Gary was an encourager who lived his faith. Our love and prayers are with Rosemary, Geoff, Michael, Anna, the grandchildren and wider family as they go forward in life without him.

At the funeral on Saturday, the church was packed and a relay enabled many in the hall to share in a celebration of Gary’s life. University of Auckland colleagues explained how an eccentric PhD student of Physics in the late 1950s became the recipient in 2004 of the first Prime Minister’s Award for Best Tertiary Teacher in New Zealand. Radio hams told how he wrote an excellent and popular column in their magazine for many years. Pauline Fish spoke of the huge contribution Gary had made to our church. Anna and Geoff talked about their father, the poetry he taught them and the family holidays they had had at Whangapoua. Geoff explained that the plain, rough-sawn, wooden coffin he, Michael and Anna had chosen was just like something Gary would have made.

The Webmaster is dead.

God help the new Webmaster.

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