On Wednesday 27th May we had a lovely morning celebrating our 50 years.
It was great seeing families that had attended over the years; for some we had 3 generations!
The Paddington team provided a wonderful buffet, and the children could make their own marmalade (or jam) sandwiches and decorate biscuits.
A table quiz got people reminiscing to find someone who had attended as parents, carers or grandparents and who was it who loved the toy cars, kitchen, or making an artwork with paint!
In the large hall we had face painting, and messy crafts; make a large Paddingtons suitcase and paint a Paddingtons mask. For older children we had word search’s and a crossword, (although they seemed to enjoy chatting to their old Paddington team and getting embarrassed when their mums showed us pictures of them in their first nativity with us!)
Our current toddlers were a little bemused by all these extra people at their party, so gravitated to their usual train set, cars and kitchen area until they were comfortable enough for the other activities.
We are grateful to Nick, who with his wife, turned a photo his Dad took of Paddington sitting on a bench into the image we used for our invitations and cake design.
Brenda Manual Warner started Paddingtons with £25 from the church to buy some toys back in 1976. Since then it has been led by Fran Poole with our late sisters Iris Miller and Kitty Hudson preparing the refreshments.
Hilary took over from Fran until she moved when Iris agreed, in her mid 80’s to take on the role with the help of Heather; who still cleans the church for us. The next leader was Jacquie Taylor, and during this time Maureen and her friend Jenny became the “tea ladies “ when Iris and Kitty decided to step down. When Steve retired as our minister Maureen moved from tea lady to our leader. (Is there a pattern here?).
There is a great team assisting Maureen now, some who attended as grandparents; Teresa and Karen with Lyn, Bettie, Sue and Jan who take turns to make the teas.
Brenda, Fran and Maureen as the leaders present, were able to cut our celebration cake.
We then had a pass the 3 parcels game, for everyone to join in, and ended with our usual goodbye song.
We are grateful to Danielle and some of our SOS, who with a couple of Geoff and Jans grandchildren, were great helpers at the event and the big clear up at the end to get the bunting down and clean the hall floors!
A very memorable celebration of sharing Jesus love with families in our community.
A special message from Maureen
Special thanks to Jan for her vision for a 50th party and all the hard work she put in arranging and organising the games, etc. Feedback received has been very positive.
Well done Jan 
By Jan Stone & Maureen Phillips
