Bonfire night 2023
Our At the Table 5pm service fell on Bonfire night this year, so we had a bonfire night party at Bingham Park! We enjoyed watching the fireworks going off across the city, shared sparklers, hot roast pork sandwiches, hot dogs and cakes.
It was great to spend time with family, friends, neighbours, playmates families and many more. And wonderful to Bless Greystones with this free event.
Light Party 2023
On 30th October, St Gabriel's hosted our second Light Party and welcomed over 100 children!
We had snacks, games, crafts and a great time.
Again we explored the theme of light in lots of fun ways, and heard a bit about Jesus who claimed to be the Light of the World and offers to be our guiding light through life.
Bless Greystones Sunday - March '23
On Sunday 26th March we set out to bless our community through litter picking in Bingham Park and supporting the Sheffield Half Marathon. We provided cakes and snacks for dozens of supporters lining Ecclesall Road. We also made banners, cheered on all the runners and handed out energy sweets for those needing a boost! Thank you to everyone involved in serving, and those in church who prayed for us and the people we met.
Light Party 2022
On 31st October St Gabriel's hosted our first-ever Light Party, with snacks, games, crafts and even an obstacle course. We hosted over 50 kids with their parents, explored the theme of light in lots of fun ways, and heard a bit about Jesus who claimed to be the Light of the World and offers to be our guiding light through life. After much positive feedback, we plan to do it again next year!
Barn Dance
On 17th September the church hall was filled with the sound of music and laughter as young and old danced, ate and mingled at the community Barn Dance. The band, Rum Ram Ruff, were fantastic and everyone had a great time.
Holiday Club 2022
In the first week of August, we hosted over 60 kids for a fun-packed holiday club exploring the life of Jesus as we re-visited the amazing city of Ancora. The kids were incredible, and we all had lots of fun. Each one was reminded that they are precious to God, and that he wants to be their friend and guide through all the adventures of life.
Platinum Jubilee Party
On 5th June we invited the local community to come and celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with us at an off-street Party in the church hall. It was a fantastic event with live music, loads of food, crafts, vintage games and family fun. Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us!
‘Good News’ Competition’ Prizewinners’ lunch in London
On 10th May, six members of the Bless Greystones team were invited to Church House in London to receive their certificate and Regional Prize in Eccleciastical's 'Good News' Competition. It was a great day out and wonderful to be recognised for the work we do in our local community. The £1500 prize money has gone straight back into the Bless Greystones fund, to enable us to do more for local people.
Easter Egg Hunt
Our annual Easter egg hunt in Bingham Park was as popular as ever with around 40 families getting involved. This year, puzzle clues were painted on stones, and everyone did a fantastic job of solving the puzzle. All were rewarded with a big chocolate egg!
Parents’ Night Out
On 31st March we ran our 3rd Parents' Night Out event, offering local parents 2 hours of free childcare while we served pizza, played games and watched a movie with their kids. Again, this event was incredibly popular, and the team enjoyed welcoming nearly 60 local kids.
Bless greystones sunday
On 27th March the whole church congregation got involved in serving our community. Many of us went down to Ecclesall Road to support the Sheffield Half Marathon by serving refreshments to supporters, giving energy sweets to the runners, making banners and cheering everyone on. Meanwhile, another team put together beautiful Mother's Day packages which were delivered to women in our community.
Bless greystones sunday
On Sunday 7th November the whole church congregation got involved in serving our community. Team 1 did some gardening and a street clean up at the top of Greystones Road, Team 2 went litter picking in Bingham Park, Team 3 served free hot chocolates to park users, and Team 4 prayed for all we were doing and those we would meet.
2nd parents’ night out
Sadly we had to postpone this event, but were able to reschedule for 18th November. Again, this event was very popular and really well received.
One parent wrote:
"Thank you so much to everyone at St Gabriel's who organised and ran tonight. I was really touched that so much effort was made to allow the adults a bit of time off, and the kids something a bit different and fun together. We all really enjoyed it, thank you."
gardening and a new bench at greystones medical centre
On 16th October the Bless Greystones Team did some more gardening for Greystones Medical Centre and installed a new bench for the staff.
Practice Manager, Linda Benn said,
“Thank you so very much for making our garden look so smart and tidy. It is so very encouraging when we are busy serving our community giving vaccines and care, and you serving us, such a beautiful picture of service and church family. So very grateful and feeling blessed.”
Catherine Stevenson explains how the work of the Bless Greystones initiative has impacted the community of Greystones since its introduction in 2020.
Holiday club
In the first week of August we hosted just under 60 kids for four mornings of fun at our summer Holiday Club. We learned about the life of Jesus through stories and activities. We built extraordinary models, sung, danced, ate, played and had a whole lot of fun.
Gardening at Greystones Medical Centre
On 19th June the Bless Greystones team spent a day gardening at Greystones Medical Centre. During a very busy year, the flower beds and planted areas around the centre had become very overgrown so the practice manager asked if we could help them out. The team spent the day clearing, weeding and cutting back overgrown plants, which filled an entire van! The manager and staff were very grateful and we plan to go again later in the year to do some more clearing and install a bench for the use of staff in lunch breaks. Well done to all the team and particularly Mike for leading this project.
Parents’ Night Out
On 25th May the Bless Greystones team hosted just under 60 kids from Greystones Primary School for a free film and pizza night. This provided a rare opportunity for their parents to have a couple of hours of child-free time to have a meal out, a leisurely walk or to socialise with friends. We are very aware that the past year has been incredibly difficult for parents, with many having to juggle work with home-schooling and navigating the ever-changing restrictions. We were therefore delighted to be able to bless lots of local parents in this way. It’s been wonderful to receive so much positive feedback from parents and children, and we hope to host more events like this in the future.
A big thank you to the team who enabled this event to happen, and Hannah Chester who came up with the idea and planned it beautifully.
Easter Egg Hunt
On Good Friday we ran a COVID-Secure Easter Egg Hunt in Bingham Park, which was attended by 37 families in our community. Using a map, children had to find visual clues around the park to fill in a puzzle about the Easter Story. When they returned their puzzle sheet, they received an Easter goody bag with chocolate eggs, an Easter craft and a little Easter message. Thank you to all the families who took part. It was a really fun event!
Mothers’ Day Gifts
On Mothers’ Day we really wanted to bless the women in our community and particularly those who live alone or may be isolating or shielding so they can’t see their family. We asked people to nominate women they knew who would like to receive a free gift of some luxury toiletries and a posy of flowers. Then on the day, our team went and delivered these gifts to over 40 women in and around our community.
Thank you to Sheffield City Council who provided the funding for this project.
Staff Wellbeing Packs
Bless Greystones provided Wellbeing Packs to every member of staff at Greystones Primary School in recognition and gratitude of all their hard work over the past year, particularly through lockdown periods. As a church we want to support and encourage the school in all it does for families in our community.
In response to the packs, one teacher wrote:
“Please could you pass on my thanks for the really lovely Bless Greystones Staff Wellbeing Box - it was such a lovely thing to do for everyone and I’m sure will give everyone a little lift.”
Family Wellbeing Packs
Following the national lockdown in January, Bless Greystones offered Family Wellbeing Packs to all families at Greystones Primary School. The packs were free and included one wellbeing activity for each of the 5 weekends up until the end of spring half term. Each activity was based on one of the NHS website’s ‘5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing’. Our hope was that these packs would be a blessing to families during these challenging times.
Thank you to Twinkl for providing books and colouring pencils for each pack.
Over 50 families signed up for a pack. On receiving her pack, one mum wrote:
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you for the extremely thoughtful and interesting family wellbeing pack we have just received. Having had a fairly challenging last couple of days trying to find ways to entertain my children, this came just at the right time…Hopefully your act of kindness will inspire other people to do the same- I know it got my older daughter and I thinking about what we could do to cheer people up.”
Delivery Service for those in need
Bless Greystones has teamed up with KTN Food and Wine on Greystones Road, to provide a free delivery service of any food essentials, to anyone in Greystones who is self-isolating, elderly or vulnerable. Please share this offer as widely as you can. Individuals can simply call the shop, make an order and pay for it over the phone. A member of the Bless Greystones team will then be notified by the shop and will organise delivery. All deliveries will be made with COVID secure measures in place, including the wearing of gloves and face masks, and keeping social distance at pick-up and on delivery.
Autumn Treasure Hunt
All the Greystones Playmates families were invited to take part in a visual treasure hunt in Bingham Park during the first week in October. We were delighted that many families took part and had a great time. A number of families invited a friend or neighbour to join them, and some even sent photos and thank you messages. Thank you to all who took part and to those who allowed us to share your photos.
The treasure hunt was one of several COVID-Secure activities we have put on this term to connect with our Playmates families, even though we cannot currently meet in the usual way.