Thackley Methodist Church and Community Centre

We wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year.  Why not get it off to a great start by joining us for morning worship at 10.30 am.?

December proved to be a busy month with our Christmas celebrations.  Here's a quick round-up: Carol Service  11 Dec - We were blessed by a wonderful service of readings of carols led by two of our worship leaders, Chris and John, with the help of many readers and videos - http://www.paperlesschristmas.org.uk/ Thackley Christmas Lights Switch On 17 Dec - We didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to lead the singing for the switch on of the Christmas Lights.  There were lots of our church members there; however, it was so dark we didn't manage to find each other!  Nevertheless we did our best to swell the singing.  This is a lovely opportunity for our local community to come together and we thank everyone who contributed. Christingle Service 18 Dec - We were delighted to welcome a number of visiting families.  As always, it was very special and moving to light our Christingle candles and sing our last carol by candlelight.  The collection from this service went to Ac

Sunday 11 December - 10.30 am Family Carol Service Sunday 18 December - 3.00 pm Family Christingle Christmas Eve - 7.30 pm Carol Service Christmas Day - 10.30 am Family Worship Please join us.

Christmas lights, good sing along carols, mince pies and more!  Sound good?  Then you are all invited: Then join us for the switch on of the Thackley Village Christmas Tree in the Cricket Club car park.  After last year's successful event it is hoped it will become a tradition in the village and many more will turn up to start the celebration of the festive season. 6.00 pm Saturday 17 December 2011

Our Christmas Magazine (pdf) is now available.

A great big  thank you to everyone who helped with the Christmas Fair. It was wonderful the way everyone pulled together to make it such a successful event with a warm, friendly feel. From the people who moved the furniture to set up and dismantle the stalls, everyone who ran the stalls, served refreshments, washed up, invited their friends, spent their money - we couldn't have done it without you. And the big news is that as of Saturday evening, the Fair has raised £873.52 plus the £283.12 raised on the Fair Trade stall!!!

We hope you will join us for our Christmas Fair between 10.00 am and 12.00 noon on Saturday 26 November 2011.  As always, there'll be lots going on.  Entrance !.50 including Christmas draw.

We are delighted that the Wives Group will host our Community Coffee Morning on Saturday 22 October 2011 from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. We warmly invite you to join us; we'll be in the church.

Many thanks to the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides for hosting our September Community Coffee Morning.  The church was full and there was a real buzz about the place.  A total of £139 was raised which will help the Guides to buy camping equipment.  We are very grateful to the Brownies for donating £20 towards our Harvest Collection for WaterAid.  

If you weren’t at church yesterday evening, you missed some fun, fellowship and food! Big thanks to Wendy for organising the curry evening, and for all the hard work she did in preparing food, games and quizzes. Also thanks go to Keith for sharing his experience of India with us, and to everyone who helped in various ways. All profits are to go to Keith’s India fund. If you weren’t able to make it, but would still like to contribute to the fund, please see Wendy. See the girls here trying on a sari. Captions anyone?

The Devs’ garden parties raised £110 for church funds over the summer. Many thanks to Jackie and John for this wonderful effort, and to everyone who supported them. Has anyone else got any bright ideas for fundraising? Don’t be  shy…

Congratulations to the Jigsaw team, who were judged as GOOD with strong provision after an unannounced visit from an Ofsted inspector. The inspector spent 3 hours observing and going through polices, procedure and the Early Years Out Comes for children. Well done to Avis and her team; a splendid result and much deserved reward for all their hard work. You’ll find full details of Jigsaw’s provision on their web site http://www.jigsawthackley.co.uk/  

We are delighted that our Rainbows, Brownies & Guides are hosting our Community Coffee Morning on Saturday 24 September 2011.  Please come along to support them and enjoy a cup of coffee and a chat - 10.00 am to 12.00 noon.

Sunday 25 September 2011 is Back to Church Sunday when Christians across the country will be inviting friends to join them for worship.  This is the third year that Thackley have marked Back to Church Sunday and we have a very special service planned that we hope our visitors will enjoy.  We invite you to come along and join us at 10.30 am.

We were delighted to receive Chloe, Jonny and Kate into Membership on Sunday 11 September 2011.  They have grown up in our church and it's wonderful that they have chosen to make a public commitment of their faith by confirming the vows that were made at their baptisms.  It was a very special service as we also celebrated the start of the new Methodist year with our Covenant service where we each made our promises to serve God during the coming year by saying the Covenant Prayer . To celebrate, we had a faith lunch after the service.

Summer vacation and once again our church building is alive with the noise of children having great fun. Yes, Jigsaw's summer play scheme is under way. For full details visit the Jigsaw web site

If you are looking for a playgroup/pre-school, then Thackley Bambinis can help you. They now have free childcare places available for September. For full details visit their web site .

10.00 am to 12.00 noon Saturday 23 July 2011 No charge but any donations would be welcomed. We invite you to call in for a cuppa and a natter.

10.00 am to 12.00 noon Saturday 2 July 2011 Lots of stalls and refreshments. Please join us.

We are delighted that Boys Brigade are hosting our Community coffee morning on Saturday 25 June 2011, 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. Please give them your support.

When we originally started the preparation for worship sessions we began at 10.25 am. Gradually this slipped to 10.30 am and we found we were encroaching on the preacher's worship time. We have decided to go back to preparing for worship at 10.25 am. We appreciate that some people may not get here for 10.25 am; don't let this worry you, just join us when you can and take what time is available to prepare for the service to begin at 10.30 am.

10.30 am Sunday 5 June 2011 Rev Keith Hunt will lead our Junior Church Anniversary service. Also, we welcome Dino, Louise, Scarlett and Joel and their family and friends for Joel's Baptism. (Details about baptism in the Methodist church

10.00 am to 12.00 noon Saturday 28 May 2011 Everyone is welcome to pop in for a cuppa and a chat.

Work is going on behind the scenes in preparation for Bradford's Biblefresh Festival on 11 June 2011. It looks like it's going to be a fabulous day of celebration with lots of exciting things happening. Check out the website for more details - www.bradfordnorth.org.uk/biblefresh.html

Rainbows meet on Wednesday evenings at Thackley but the Unit Leader has had to stop because of work commitments. If you can help, please get in touch.

10.00 am to 12.00 noon Saturday 14 May 2011 at the Vickermans For the third year running the Vickermans invite you to their "At Home". They are arranging for good weather and all that they now need is your presence. They have a selection of games for youngsters. There is no charge, but there will be a Christian Aid jar and envelopes, so, if you wish, both you, yourselves and Christian Aid will benefit from the get-together! Christian Aid Week starts the following day when our preacher will be our very own Keith Hunt. We will be making a house to house collection during the week.

10.00 am to 12.00 noon Saturday 9 April 2011 Back to Thackley Methodist Church

We celebrate our church anniversary at our 10.30 am service on Sunday 13 March 2011 when our preacher will be Rev Nick Blundell. You are warmly invited to join us.

5.30 pm for 6.00 pm Saturday 19 March 2011. Tickets are £5 reduced to £3 for children under 16. A fun evening for all the family raising funds for a wonderful cause. Please let John or Margaret V know if you're coming so that catering arrangements can be made. Thank you.

We were heartened to hear that our guide leader is involved in a homeless project at work; she would be very grateful for any of the following: Cups, mugs, plates, bowls and cutlery; Blankets, sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases - they all keep out the cold at night, but are light enough to be carried around during the day; Towels for homeless people to wash/shower at the soup kitchen centre; Warm clothing - men's and women's - especially hats/gloves/scarves/socks.

This year's ecumenical service is at Holy Trinity, Idle at 27.00 pm on Friday 4 March 2011. The speaker will be Carol Lupton. Refreshments will be available after the service.

A whopping 30 million people knew about last year's Fairtrade Fortnight. That's 10 million more than 2009. So for two whole weeks we want the nation to get loud and proud about Fairtrade by asking everyone to "Show off your label". People love showing off about Fairtrade - tell the world about your cake made extra special by using Fairtrade sugar and spice, your most tempting bottle of wine, your comfiest pants. We want to load the FAIRTRADE Mark with meaning, telling them the tangible difference Fairtrade makes to producers. At Thackley we'll be doing our bit by having our Fairtrade Stall in the foyer for the 2nd week of Fairtrade Fortnight (Monday 7th to Friday 11th March). Please give your support.

We will be celebrating Holy Communion between 10.00 am and 11.00 am each Tuesday during Lent, commencing 15 March 2011. You are warmly invited to join us.

Thank you to everyone for your donations to charity at our recent Christmas services. Because of your generosity we are able to send the following amounts: Action for Children (Christingle) - £64.79 Bradford Soup Run (Christmas Eve) - £161.82 Caring for Life (Christmas Day) - £67.48

The Posada is a Mexican tradition and this is the second year that our Posada travelled around Thackley and Idle.

Time: 10.00 am to 12.00 noon Date: Saturday 22 January 2011 Venue: Thackley Methodist Church & Community Centre This month's Community Coffee Morning is being hosted by our Mums and Toddlers group. We're looking forward to meeting them and supporting their work. Why not give them your support by popping in for a cuppa and a chat. You're assured of a warm welcome.