Latest News

Scouts Parade

The 5th Saffron Walden Free Church Scouts held their annual parade at Abbey Lane Church on 3rd March for a service focussed on the message of Fairtrade. The Fairtrade banana made an appearance.

Messy Lent

 

At Messy Lent children and families enjoyed a range of activities such as fun crafts, games, and good food. This event brought people together in a creative and enjoyable way during the period of Lent.

Throughout the event, we enjoyed a variety of crafts and activities that were centered around the themes of Lent. These activities included making desert catus, puzzles and trails to reflect on the meaning of Lent, and even wood work. To round off the day, everyone gathered together to enjoy a delicious meal.

it was great to come together, have fun, and deepen their understanding of the meaning of Lent.

Watch this space for the next Messy Church Event.

 

Winter Fair

 
We were delighted to raise over £2,000 at our winter fair. A highlight was the hand-made Christmas Crackers made by church members. These are ‘Something of an Abbey Lane tradition’, introduced years ago by Eileen Salmon and Sheila Westwood, to give to members of the Abbey Lane Guild on their birthdays, and sell at the Winter Fair.

50th Anniversary Celebration

On 6th October 2022 the United Reformed Church celebrated its 50th birthday since it was formed by the union of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches in 1974. A national celebration scheduled for 1st October was postponed because of the rail strikes, but the we celebrated 50 years of ‘Love, Hope and Faith’ with an exhibition over two weekends of ‘things we’ve been doing over the last 50 years’.

Val Bowtle, Church Secretary, said, ‘we’ve been delighted by the response and enthusiasm of our members to contribute ideas, photos, artefacts and memories. It’s been fun to look back at the wide range of our activities and hard work of our members over the last 50 years. We look forward to continuing to serve the people of our town and area in the future’.

Mutley and friends

We have supported Guide Dogs for many years with fund-raising Coffee Mornings. We were delighted this year to raise £393 at this years coffee morning. Retired Guide Dog, Mutley, also seems to approve.

Harvest Celebration

 
We had a wonderful harvest service of thanks where we gave thanks for all the blessings we enjoy and reflected on parallels between the life of a bee and christian faith. The choir sang our anthem and we were blessed by a solo before the church service from a member of our junior church. Junior church also gave a fresh look at the Lord’s prayer. Last but not least, we all enjoyed some delicious honey tasting!

Ride & Stride

Marion Barker and Janet Bazley at Abbey Lane United Reformed Church have been raising money for Friends of Essex Churches each September just as others are getting on their bikes to ‘Ride & Stride’ with the same objective. But Marion and Janet’s solution is coffee, tea, cakes and produce. This year was their twelfth ‘Ride & Stride’ Coffee Morning and raised £427. Said Marion,’ ‘Friends of Essex Churches’ helped us greatly when emergency repairs to our building were needed, so we’re very grateful and happy to be able to do something in return so that they can continue help other churches’.