This year Christ Church celebrates 50 years since its formation. We marked this milestone anniversary with a celebratory weekend of events over 24th-25th September 2022.
Our anniversary weekend
Our anniversary weekend was certainly a packed one with all the events going on. The celebrations began with our anniversary fete, opened by our oldest member, Cecil.
It was lovely to see so many people coming into the church to browse the exhibition and stalls, watch the displays taking place and enjoy a cuppa and some cake served by the Girls’ Brigade, or later in the morning, a burger or sausage from the BBQ being manned by our Boys’ Brigade captain, Paul.
There was plenty to keep the younger members of our church family amused as well, with the tombola, hook-a-duck and various games on offer in the car park.
On Saturday afternoon, we gathered for a service of thanksgiving which included a welcome message from another of our oldest members, Vida, prayers and a hymn from the original service of dedication, a video message from our previous minister, Revd Nick Skelding and a reflection from Ken Pearce about the history of the church. We also welcomed the Mayor of Hillingdon, Cllr Becky Haggar and her Escort, Polly Haggar to the service of thanksgiving. After the service, the Mayor cut the anniversary cake, a recreation of Christ Church itself in sponge and icing, beautifully crafted by Tracey (and it tasted delicious too!)
The quiz supper later that evening was very well attended, with 16 teams taking part and the fish and chips were enjoyed by those attending.
On Sunday morning, we welcomed Revd Dr Dong Hwan Kim to lead our covenant service which was followed by a shared lunch.
Our drama/musical celebration ‘Hopes and Dreams: Moving Forward’, conducted by Jean G, was the finale of our weekend of celebrations. The first half featured songs, sketches, readings and prayers from ‘Hopes and Dreams’ which Jean had previously directed when it was performed at Christ Church in 1999. The second half focused on looking forward, with songs of hope along with some wonderful performances from members of the Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade.
A huge thank you to Denise for coordinating the anniversary weekend events and to everyone who was involved with putting together the various events, and to all those who attended and made our anniversary weekend such a special one.
